WELCOME HOME ENDEAVOUR!

I would like to take a moment to welcome the men and women of STS-118 home from their mission to the International Space Station.

The crew of STS-118: Endeavour

Commander
U.S. Navy Commander Scott J. Kelly

Pilot
U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col Charles O. Hobaugh

Veteran astronauts - returning to space for their second missions
Richard A. Mastracchio
Dr. Dafydd (Dave) Williams of the Canadian Space Agency

Mission Specialists
Barbara R. Morgan
Tracy E. Caldwell, Ph. D.
Benjamin Alvin Drew

Mission Trivia
Twenty-two years ago Barbara Morgan was first selected as Christa McAuliffe’s backup in the Teacher in Space Project. One of five mission specialists in the seven-member STS-118 crew, she has now completed a successful mission on the space shuttle Endeavour as a fully-trained astronaut. (read more...)

Next Mission Scheduled
The next Space Shuttle mission, STS-120, is targeted for October 23rd. STS-120 will be the twenty-third mission to the International Space Station and will deliver the U.S. Node 2 Harmony module expanding the space station's capability for future international laboratories.

There is a tentative date set for September 26th for the Dawn Mission. This will be the first time a spacecraft will orbit two planetary bodies on a single voyage as it studies Ceres and Vesta.

The Dawn Mission is to be nearly a decade-long mission that will study the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres. These are celestial bodies that are believed to have accreted early in the history of the solar system. (read more about the Dawn Mission)