STS-118 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by the orbiter Endeavour. STS-118 lifted off on August 8, 2007, from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida and landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC on August 21, 2007. This was the first flight of Endeavour since STS-113 in November 2002, which was also the last successful shuttle flight before STS-107, which culminated in the loss of Columbia when it disintegrated during reentry. STS-118 pilot Charles Hobaugh had been the entry team CAPCOM for STS-107. Columbia had originally been selected for this flight, for what would have been its 29th mission, and its first and likely only visit to the ISS, mainly due to its heavier weight. The mission is also referred to as ISS-13A.1 by the ISS program. The mission added two more components to the ISS and brought supplies for its crew. During and after the mission, the media focused heavily on a small puncture in the heat shield, created by a piece of insulation foam that came off the external tank during liftoff, though the foam impact that ultimately destroyed Columbia caused more damage and was in a critical area. KSC Launch Director Michael D. Leinbach mentioned in the post-flight news conference that upon initial inspection on the ground, "Endeavour appears to be the 'cleanest' post-flight orbiter since Return to Flight". On August 31, 2007, NASA reported that the damaged tiles had been removed in the Orbiter Processing Facility, and engineers had found no evidence of heat-related damage to the orbiter itself.
Crew
Crew notes Astronaut Clayton Anderson was originally slated to be launched to the ISS on this mission, but was moved to STS-117. His replacement was Alvin Drew. NASA press releases and media briefing documents stated that STS-118 was the first flight of a Mission Specialist Educator due to the presence of Barbara Morgan. The Educator Astronaut Project is the successor to NASA's Teacher in Space Project, which ended with the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. The official STS-118 mission patch included a flame of knowledge that represented the importance of education, and honored teachers and students everywhere. Morgan was the backup to Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who was killed aboard Challenger in 1986 on STS-51-L mission 73 seconds after lifted off. The tip of the flames touched Morgan's name on the patch. Nonetheless, NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin clarified at a post-mission press conference that Morgan was not considered a mission specialist educator, but rather a standard mission specialist, who had once been a teacher. Prior to the Columbia disaster, the crew manifest for STS-118 was:
Mission payloads
The STS-118 mission delivered and assembled the starboard S5 truss segment of the International Space Station, as well as External Stowage Platform 3, (ESP-3) and a replacement Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG). The mission was also the final flight to include the Spacehab Logistics Single Module. The Spacehab Logistics Single Module, a pressurized aluminum habitat that is carried inside the payload bay, has a capacity of 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg), and carried a variety of cargo and research projects, including supply materials for the ISS. It returned cargo, including the MISSE PEC 3 & 4, a Department of Defense payload that had been installed on the ISS. Launched in July 2006, the MISSE PEC-3 and 4 contained over 850 materials specimens that will be studied to determine the effects of long-term exposure to the environment of space.
Crew seat assignments
Mission background
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