The shuttle Endeavour reached its launch pad on Wednesday, where it will continue to be prepared for a planned launch on 7 August to the International Space Station (ISS).
The shuttle began its rollout from the giant Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US, at 2010 Tuesday EDT (0010 Wednesday GMT). After a 5.5-kilometre journey, the shuttle was placed on its launch pad at 0302 Wednesday EDT (0702 GMT).
Among the seven astronauts that Endeavour will carry into orbit is Barbara Morgan. Morgan was the backup for the Teacher in Space programme's Christa McAuliffe, who was killed in the 1986 Challenger accident. Morgan, a former teacher, joined NASA's full-time astronaut corps in 1998.
The upcoming STS-118 mission is part of the ongoing construction effort for the space station.
The mission will replace a broken gyroscope on the ISS, which is needed to help control the station's orientation in space. It will also deliver a new piece of the space station's framework called the S5 truss and a platform for external storage called ESP3.
The Space Shuttle - Learn more in our continuously updated special report.
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