Endeavour set to land today in Florida

The STS–118 crew is making final preparations for its return to Earth aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour to complete a successful assembly mission to the International Space Station. Landing is scheduled for 12:32 p.m. EDT today (Tuesday, August 21), at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Endeavour’s payload bay doors are now closed. If flight controllers decide to press ahead with landing, Commander Scott Kelly and Pilot Charles Hobaugh will fire Endeavour’s engines at 11:25 a.m. to begin the descent to Kennedy. Landing will bring to an end the first flight for Mission Specialist Barbara Morgan, an educator who was selected to become a mission specialist astronaut. She was first selected by NASA in 1985 as the backup to Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe. For news of the landing, visit the NASA website.