HOUSTON – NASA will discuss the next space shuttle mission, designated STS-118, during a series of media briefings July 10-11 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The briefings will be broadcast live on NASA Television. Questions also will be taken from participating NASA centers.

The mission will feature the first flight of space shuttle Endeavour since November 2002. STS-118 highlights include the addition of another truss segment to the expanding station, the installation of a new gyroscope on the complex and the addition of a spare parts platform. The flight will have at least three spacewalks. It also will debut a new system that enables docked shuttles to draw electrical power from the station to extend visits to the outpost.

Veteran astronaut Scott Kelly will command the seven-person crew, which includes Pilot Charles Hobaugh and mission specialists Tracy Caldwell, Richard Mastracchio, Alvin Drew, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Dave Williams, and Barbara Morgan, the first educator selected as a mission specialist astronaut.

On the first day of briefings, managers and experts will provide details of the mission. The second day of briefings will include an interactive educational event featuring the STS-118 crew, the Expedition 15 crew aboard the station and students and teachers at Johnson. The second day also will include a press conference with Endeavour’s astronauts and a series of round-robin interviews with individual crew members.

Media planning to participate in person or by phone in the round-robin interviews must contact Gayle Frere in the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 no later than 5 p.m. CDT Friday, July 6. Non-U.S. media planning to attend the briefings, regardless of citizenship, must contact the Johnson newsroom no later than 5 p.m. Friday, June 22, to arrange credentials.

During the briefings, questions will be taken from media at Johnson and other participating NASA sites. News media at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters in St. Hubert, Quebec, Canada, also will participate in the crew news conference.

The briefing schedule includes (all times CDT):

Tuesday, July 10:

  • 8 a.m. — Space Shuttle and Space Station Program overview briefing
  • 9:30 a.m. — Mission overview briefing
  • 11 a.m. — NASA TV Video File
  • 1 p.m. — Spacewalk overview briefing
  • 2:30 p.m. — NASA education briefing

Wednesday, July 11:

  • 8 a.m. — STS-118/Expedition 15 educational event (open to media)
  • 1 p.m. — STS-118 Crew news conference (photo opportunity follows)
  • 2 p.m. — Round-robin crew interviews (not on NASA TV)

For NASA Television downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv