CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-astronaut crew
are cleared for their planned Aug. 8 launch, mission managers said today at the
Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
So far, the
mission has faced poor weather, a pesky air leak and even sabotaged
equipment for the International Space Station (ISS) leading up to the
launch approval.
Despite the
last-minute challenges and a 24-hour delay, said space shuttle program manager
Wayne Hale, the STS-118 mission is still ahead of schedule with a 6:36 p.m.
(2236 GMT) launch on Wednesday from Pad 39A.
"We
accelerated the launch of Endeavour by two days," Hale said, explaining
that a launch conflict with other space missions also set to fly created the
need for speed. "But by my count, we're still a day ahead of where we
would have been ... and we're ready to go fly."
Veteran
astronaut and commander Scott
Kelly will lead the STS-118 astronauts on their 11-to-14 day mission to
install a new starboard piece of the space station's main truss.
Teacher-turned-spaceflyer
Barbara
Morgan, NASA's first professional educator astronaut, is trained as one of
the crew's mission specialists. During the NASA's Teacher in Space program,
Morgan served as the backup for New Hampshire high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who
died along with six other astronauts on January 28, 1986 aboard the shuttle
Challenger.
The STS-118
mission's overarching goal is to continue assembly of the space laboratory, and
prime it for further construction. While orbiting above Earth, the
astronauts will also deliver ISS supplies, spare parts, make repairs to the
growing station and conduct a handful of experiments.
End in
sight
As NASA
readies Endeavour for launch, however, the agency is also mindful of completing
the ISS with a space shuttle fleet set to
retire in 2010.
"It's a
big job putting together the International Space Station, but we're going to
take it one step at a time," Hale said, adding that maximizing the use of
each flight will be necessary.
Hale
explained that preserving NASA's current workforce will be essential to the
achieving the agency's goals.
"As
the program winds down, we want to retain our critical people, that's probably
our number-one challenge," Hale said. "What makes this [space]
program happen is the people that support it."
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