Headed for Home

NASA Headquarters – August 20, 2007 – An approaching hurricane has caused NASA Managers to shorten the current shuttle mission. The seven-member STS-118 crew is preparing for its return to Earth aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour after a successful stay at the International Space Station. The crew completed tests this morning of Endeavour’s systems and engines that will be used for re-entry and landing. Other preparations include stowing equipment and a 30-minute deorbit briefing. The crew will also have some off-duty time to prepare for Tuesday's landing opportunities. See STS-118 landing ground tracks. In other activities, crew members took time out of their schedule today to answer questions from Canadian schoolchildren from the La Ronge, Saskatchewan, area. Endeavour’s first landing opportunity on Tuesday is at 12:32 p.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., with the deorbit burn occurring at 11:25 a.m. A second opportunity is available at the Florida spaceport at 2:06 p.m. The deorbit burn would occur at 1 p.m. Meanwhile, mission managers continue to monitor Hurricane Dean as it moves westward in the Caribbean Sea. The hurricane’s projected track could potentially take the storm over Houston, Texas, home of NASA’s Mission Control. The STS-118 crew members spent almost nine days at the international outpost. They continued the on-orbit construction of the station and transferred tons of cargo between the two spacecraft. The STS-118 crew conducted four spacewalks at the station. The two major objectives were the installation of the S5 and the replacement of a failed attitude control gyroscope.

STS-118 mission specialists (from left) Barbara Morgan, Dave Williams and Commander Scott Kelly talk to schoolchildren from the La Ronge, Saskatchewan area. Image: NASA TV Astronaut Dave Williams during the mission’s final spacewalk. During the 5-hour spacewalk, Williams and astronaut Clay Anderson, Expedition 15 flight engineer, installed the External Wireless Instrumentation System antenna, attached a stand for the shuttle's robotic arm extension boom and retrieved the two Materials International Space Station Experiments (MISSE) which will return home tomorrow on the shuttle. A still photo close-up of the eye of Category 4 Hurricane Dean. Crewmembers on the Space Shuttle Endeavour captured this image around Noon CDT on Saturday. At the time the shuttle and International Space Station passed overhead, the Category 4 storm was moving westerly at 17 mph nearing Jamaica carrying sustained winds of 150 mph.

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