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CAPE CANAVERAL, United States (AFP) - Space shuttle Endeavour linked up with the International Space Station on Friday, bringing the first teacher in space and a new truss segment to expand the orbiting laboratory. Borrowing a navy tradition, a bell rang inside the ISS to welcome the shuttle after it docked with the outpost at 1802 GMT some 341 kilometers (212 miles) above the South Pacific, NASA television images showed. The astronauts will enter the ISS after leak and pressure checks between the two spacecraft, NASA said. Before docking, shuttle commander Scott Kelly made a tricky maneuver to make Endeavour...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA discovered a worrisome gouge on Endeavour's belly soon after the shuttle docked with the international space station Friday, possibly caused by ice that broke off the fuel tank a minute after liftoff. The gouge — about 3 inches square — was spotted in zoom-in photography taken by the space station crew shortly before the linkup. "What does this mean? I don't know at this point," said John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team. If the gouge is deep enough, the shuttle astronauts may have to patch it during a spacewalk, he said.

This is the live launch thread for the Space Shuttle Endeavour. If you can't see it live on tv go to www.nasa.gov Ad Astra!

Today President Bush returned to the White House from Camp David where he and the First Lady spend the weekend and where he met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Mrs. Bush Congratulates Barbara Morgan, Astronaut on Space Shuttle Endeavour and Former Teacher This morning, Mrs. Laura Bush called Barbara Morgan, an astronaut and former teacher who will travel to space for the first time on the flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. Mrs. Bush expressed congratulations from one schoolteacher to another and noted that she and the President appreciate Ms. Morgan's commitment to America's space...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA began the countdown Sunday night for the launch of Endeavour after completing one final test to make sure the space shuttle's crew cabin was airtight. "The team is ready. Endeavour is ready," said NASA test director Stephen Payne. Last week, NASA replaced a leaky valve in Endeavour's cabin with one taken from the shuttle Atlantis. Engineers discovered that air had been escaping from the removed valve because of a small piece of debris on its seal, Payne said. The valve itself turned out to be fine. Because of the extra work to replace and test...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A week before Endeavour's planned liftoff, NASA was analyzing a cabin leak in the space shuttle Tuesday. The leak was detected over the weekend. NASA thought it fixed the problem by tightening a loose bolt, but testing Monday night confirmed air was still escaping from the crew cabin, said NASA spokeswoman Tracy Young. Engineers have yet to pinpoint the leak, which could require so much work that NASA might not be able to launch Endeavour on Aug. 7. NASA's planned launch of the Mars lander Phoenix later this week could also interfere with Endeavour's flight. The...

NASA Updates Space Shuttle Endeavour Prelaunch Events CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - News conferences, events and operating hours for NASA's Kennedy Space Center news center are set for the scheduled Aug. 7 launch of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-118 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is slated for 7:02 p.m. EDT. On Friday, Aug. 3, the seven Endeavour crew members are scheduled to arrive Kennedy at 5 p.m. Media planning to cover their arrival must be at the news center by 3:30 p.m. for transportation to the Shuttle Landing Facility. Commander Scott Kelly will make a brief statement to...

The first NASA sign at launch pad 39A encouraging the next launch of space shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center was misspelled and noticed by someone looking at the craft. When the shuttle rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building Wednesday, a giant "Go Endeavour" sign was put on a fence in front of the craft. However, one item was missing from the sign: the "u" in Endeavour. Someone spotted the mistake and called KSC to fix it, WKMG-TV reported. NASA scrambled someone out to pad 39A with a new sign that has orbiter Endeavour's name spelled correctly. A photo...

Engineers are readying the shuttle Endeavour for rollout to pad 39A early Tuesday and launch Aug. 7 on a space station assembly and resupply mission. The flight features NASA's first educator-astronaut, Barbara Morgan, who served as backup to Christa McAuliffe in the original Teacher-in-Space program. There are no major technical problems with the shuttle or the space station, but NASA managers could opt to delay Endeavour's launch a few days if the agency's next Mars probe - the Phoenix polar lander - runs into problems getting off its pad as planned on Aug. 3. Either way, Morgan and her crewmates...