[7] NASA press releases and media briefing documents stated that STS-118 was the first flight of a Mission Specialist Educator due to the presence of Barbara Morgan.

[10] Prior to the Columbia disaster, the crew manifest for STS-118 was: The STS-118 mission delivered and assembled the starboard S5 truss segment of the International Space Station, as well as External Stowage Platform 3, (ESP-3) and a replacement Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG).

Launched in July 2006, the MISSE PEC-3 and 4 contained over 850 materials specimens that will be studied to determine the effects of long-term exposure to the environment of space.

Whether you're teaching school, or whether you're training as an astronaut, you put all you can into it, and get the most out of it.The mission marked: Endeavour (OV-105) was moved from the Orbiter Processing Facility, bay OPF-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building on July 2, 2007.

Approximately an hour before docking, Endeavour performed the one-degree-per-second backflip, called the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver (RPM), so the ISS crew members could take digital pictures of the heat shield of the orbiter.

This area is less critical than the leading-edge reinforced carbon-carbon tiles that were damaged in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, but did cause concern for the Mission Management Team.

At 21:45 (UTC), Rick Mastracchio and Dave Williams started the first EVA of the mission, installing the S5 truss to the station, increasing the total mass of the ISS to 232,693 kilograms (513,000 lb).

John Shannon also reported that the possible protruding gap filler noticed on flight day 3, was reviewed further, and was determined to be "shim stock", which will burn off in the upper atmosphere, and poses no issues for re-entry.

Shannon reported on the focused inspection, confirming that good laser data and imagery was obtained, and they resolved several areas of interest, classifying them as of no concern.

[28] They will use the data to mimic the damage with sample tiles at Johnson Space Center, and using a variety of testing methods, possible courses of action would then be evaluated.

Shannon did report that following STS-118, NASA will do a thorough review of the history of foam loss from the area of the external tank since STS-114, analysis and testing would be done, and any speculation as to a future course of action would not be made until all the information was available.

They also continued with transfer activities, and several crew members took time out to have two Public Affairs events, one of them answering children's questions from the Discovery Center in Boise, Idaho.

[36] Lead spacewalk officer Paul Boehm agreed that the EVA went well, the major objectives were completed, and he reiterated that at no time was Mastracchio's suit in any danger of leaking.

John Shannon reported that no decision had been made regarding the tile damage on the underside of the orbiter, but the fourth EVA was postponed to at least August 18, 2007.

[41] During the interview with Reuters, Drew stated "We've been talking to the engineers who have been analyzing this far more than we have in space, and they seem to feel that the biggest danger is more to just being able to re-use Endeavour once it gets back on the ground.

At 01:00 UTC, August 17, 2007, CAPCOM Shane Kimbrough notified commander Kelly that the Mission Management Team decided that no repair to the damaged tile on the underside of the orbiter would be required.

[45] Shannon did note that the JSC Engineering Independent Group advised NASA managers that repairing the damage on-orbit could assist with mission turn-around time once the orbiter was on the ground.

"[48] During the mission status briefing, Lead Flight Director Matt Abbott discussed the ongoing preparations and plans with regards to Hurricane Dean, and reported NASA was watching the storm's track closely.

[49] Deputy ISS Program Manager Kirk Shireman reported the S-Band system relocated during the third EVA was working well, and the SSPTS provided enough oxygen to be able to completely fill all reserves on the station.

The team analyzed the video downlinked from the third EVA, and the review showed no evidence of any specific event that would indicate a sharp edge, or excessive wear.

[50] NASA Managers decided overnight to shorten the fourth EVA by two hours as a precaution due to Hurricane Dean's continued path into the Gulf of Mexico.

Saturday, NASA managers decided the station fly-around that is normally performed following each mission would not be conducted in order to give the Shuttle crew more free time during flight day 12.

After several long work days, the Mission Control team felt the crew needed some downtime before the landing process began.

There, the crew deployed the robotic arm, beginning Late Inspection of the reinforced carbon-carbon tiles on the nose cap and wing leading edges.

The latest track for Hurricane Dean was favorable for the Houston area; the storm seemed to be swinging farther south than originally expected.

[60] They closed payload bay doors, transitioned the vehicle computers to landing software mode and donned their reentry suits.

The weather at Kennedy Space Center showed only scattered showers moving away from the landing facility, and cross winds were not expected to be a problem.

The 4-minute engine burn was successfully completed at 15:28 UTC, slowing Endeavour by approximately 252 mph (406 km/h) and adjusting the orbiter's trajectory correctly for landing.

'"[62] Initial post-landing inspection of the orbiter showed very little additional damage to the thermal tiles affected by the foam strike during launch.

During the post-landing crew press conference, Kelly was asked "Did the tile damage enter your mind at all during re-entry, and what did you think about it once you got a look during the walkaround?"