Endeavour Shuttle & Crew Ready For Wednesday Launch
EL PASO, TX. – The shuttle crew of Endeavour STS-118 is preparing for Wednesday evening’s launch after engineers give the okay for launch following a cabinvalve repair.
Endeavour’s launch was originally slated for Tuesday, but engineers delayed this in order to repair a leaking cabin valve where the crew sits. Wednesday morning, NASA had nearly finished pumping 500,000 gallons of supercooled liquid hydrogen and oxygen into the shuttle’s main fuel tank. Weather reports are favorable for the evening launch that will send the 7-person crew to the international space station for nearly two weeks.
Among the crew is Barbara Morgan, the teacher-turned-astronaut who says this trip is over 20 years in the making. Morgan served as a backup ‘guest’ to teacher Christa McAuliffe who rode the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. Among thewitnesses on hand for Endeavour’s launch are the widow of Challenger’s commander, June Scobee Rodgers who commented on Morgan’s spaceflight.
“The Challenger crew, my husband Dick Scobee, Christa McAuliffe, they would be so happy with Barbara Morgan. They’d be excited for her, they’d proud of her and her following through with the mission for the teacher to fly in space.” Rodgers is the founding chairman of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education who added that Morgan serves as a role model for her students because of her patience and perserverance in following her dream.
Morgan will
The mission may be extended from 11 to 14 days, though that decision won’t be made for several days. If so, a fourth space walk could be added to the mission to install protective paneling on the international space station.
