CAPE CANAVERAL,
Fla. – NASA's shuttle Endeavour is poised to launch into space Wednesday with
fresh cargo, a new hunk of the International Space Station (ISS), spare parts and
10 million cinnamon basil seeds.
The seedy
payload is launching in the hopes of garnering youth interest in science and
space, NASA education officials said today in a briefing here at the Kennedy
Space Center (KSC).
"Tomorrow
we will have ... what could be considered the ultimate classroom," said
Joyce Winterton, NASA's assistant administrator for education, of the shuttle
and its seven STS-118 astronauts.
Endeavour
is slated
to launch on NASA's second construction flight of the year to the ISS at 6:36
p.m. EDT (2236 GMT) Wednesday. Commanded by veteran
spaceflyer Scott Kelly, the STS-118 mission may last from 11-to-14 days,
pending the success of a station-to-shuttle power transfer system.
While
students in the U.S. sow their seeds in plant
growth chambers they've designed as part of a NASA-led engineering
challenge, Canadian youth will follow the changes and risks to astronauts in
space. Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Dave Williams, an STS-118 mission
specialist and spacewalker, will lead the CD-based project deemed "My Body
in Space" from orbit around earth.
Marilyn
Steinberg, manager for the CSA's space learning program, said 40,000 Canadian
classrooms will reach 1.2 million students with the interactive CDs.
"They're
going to allow our students to engage in an active way," Steinberg said.
Teacher
in space
Teacher-turned-spaceflyer
Barbara Morgan, NASA's first official educator astronaut, will rocket to
space for the first time as one of Endeavour's mission specialists. Winterton
said teachers have been closely watching Morgan since she served as a backup
Teacher in Space to Christa McAuliffe before the tragic 1986 Challenger
shuttle accident, garnering extra interest in the STS-118 mission.
"When
[she] returns ... she will really bring back to students and educators the passion
for engineering and science," Winterton said, adding that the mission will
hopefully inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists as the
shuttle program nears its end.
Morgan,
however, views her role as a beginning in NASA's space program.
"I see
myself as just one of many teachers who will fly as part of this program,"
Morgan told SPACE.com in a preflight interview.
Endeavour's
STS-118 astronauts will work together to add a new starboard side section
to the space station's growing main truss during their flight. NASA mission
planners have said that, if time permits, Morgan and her colleagues will
conduct up to three live downlinks to U.S. locations in which students on Earth
can ask the crew questions and watch demonstrations.
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