Posted: Wed, Aug 8, 2007, 8:27 PM ET (0027 GMT)
The space shuttle Endeavour launched late Wednesday afternoon on a mission to the International Space Station. Endeavour lifted off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on time at 6:36 pm EDT (2236 GMT) after a smooth countdown and entered orbit eight minutes later. The main purpose of the STS-118 mission is to install a new truss segment to the International Space Station and deliver additional equipment to the facility, including a new gyro used to control the station's attitude that will be installed during one of the three EVAs planned for the mission. The STS-118 include notably includes former teacher Barbara Morgan, the runner-up to Christa McAuliffe in the Teacher in Space program in the mid-1980s. The mission is the first for Endeavour since STS-113 in late 2002, the mission before STS-107; Endeavour underwent an overhaul while the other two orbiters, Discovery and Atlantis, returned to flight.
