McCall Idaho Headline News

NASA has moved up the space shuttle mission of McCall teacher Barbara Morgan by two days to give more chances to lift off during what looks to be a busy month.

Mission managers have moved the launch of the shuttle Endeavour to Aug. 7 from its original date of Aug. 9.

The move will help ensure the shuttle launch does not conflict with the planned launches of a ro botic geologist to Mars and a military communications satellite, both planned for August.

Technicians at the Kennedy Space Center have gotten Endeavour ready ahead of schedule for its first flight since late 2002. The shuttle underwent an intensive maintenance overhaul.

"It adds a little flexibility to the schedule," said NASA spokesman Kyle Herring in Houston.

Endeavour will deliver another truss segment to the International Space Station. The seven-member crew includes Morgan, who was selected with Christa McAuliffe more than two decades ago for NASA's Teacher in Space project.

Morgan, 55, will be flying for the first time. She was a backup to McAuliffe, who died in the Challenger accident in 1986.

Endeavour's flight will be the second space shuttle mission of the year.