Engineers with the U.S. space agency NASA are fixing a cabin leak discovered earlier this week in the space shuttle Endeavour. Officials are saying the problem will not delay the scheduled August 7 launch to the International Space Station. The historic mission will be the first for a teacher since the disastrous Challenger accident 21 years ago. VOA's Paul Sisco reports.

Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan

After the accident, plans for a teacher in space were shelved. Morgan went on with her life, raising two sons, and teaching young people.

In 1998 she rejoined NASA as a full-fledged astronaut.

The seven person crew of the Endeavour

"I'll be one of the robotic arm operators, so I'll be using the space shuttle arm and the space station arm to help us move some of these pieces of equipment as we attach them onto the station," she explained, "and I'll be helping on the flight deck coming home, or during what we call entry of the space shuttle back to Earth, and helping with everything we do to make sure we come back home safely."

U.S. Navy commander Scott Kelly is commanding the seven person crew that has been training for months. Charles Hobaugh is Endeavor's pilot. Astronauts Rich Mastracchio and Dr. Dave Williams of the Canadian space agency are returning to space for their second missions. First timers in space, NASA astronauts Alvin Drew, Tracy Galdwell and Barbara Morgan round out the crew as mission specialists.

Astronauts work on the International Space Station

Like all shuttle missions, STS-118 is about the future, bringing the International Space Station a step closer to completion and gathering experience that will help humankind return to the moon someday, eventually go to Mars, and, perhaps, beyond.