The International Space Station won't complete itself. That's why NASA has got the space shuttles all scheduled between now and 2010 to loft up the remaining components into orbit.
Next up, Endeavour, and STS-118.
According to NASA's current schedule, the space shuttle will blast off on Wednesday, August 8th at 6:36 pm EDT. On board will be 7 astronauts, station supplies, experiments, and the new starboard-side spacer segment which will be attached to the station's backbone-like main truss.
The shuttle was originally supposed to launch on Tuesday, but a cabin air leak pushed the mission back a day. Poor weather was also a concern, but now a heat wave is decreasing the chances that weather will be a factor. NASA's shuttle weather official announced today that
Endeavour stood a 70-80% chance of launching on time.
One of the STS-118 crew members is teacher Barbara Morgan. She was
Christa McAuliffe's backup during NASA's Teacher in Space program. As you may recall, McAuliffe died when the space shuttle Challenger
exploded during takeoff in 1986. Now, NASA is ready to restore the program, and Morgan is ready for her turn to head into space.
If all goes well, the shrouding Rotating Service Structure that protects Endeavour from poor weather will retract Tuesday night at
9:00pm EDT. Then, at 8:11 am EDT Wednesday morning, workers will begin the 6-hour fueling process to fill the gigantic orange external fuel tank with liquid oxygen and hydrogen.
And then, at 6:36 pm... liftoff.
