STS-118: Endeavour's first launch in five years 8/8/07 ~ 6:36:42pm Homepage      Launch Photos       Purchase Photos! The Space Shuttle Endeavour rockets into orbit for the first time since STS-113 in late 2002, the final flight before Columbia. STS-118 ferried the small S5 truss section to the International Space Station (ISS) and carried the final SPACEHAB module, full of ISS supplies, in its cargo bay. Garnering the most attention for this mission was one of Endeavour's seven crewmembers, Barbara Morgan, who was the backup Teacher In Space candidate to Christa McAuliffe in 1986. Morgan was finally selected as an official astronaut in 1998 as the first Educator Mission Specialist; she waited over 21 years for this moment. Shuttle on rollout day     Remote camera setup     RSS rollback     Landing <--- STS-117                                                      STS-120 --->

From the Banana Creek (Saturn V Center) viewing site, 3.9 miles from Launch Pad 39A:

Finally, Endeavour's smoke trail drifts west as the sun goes down two hours after launch: