The Space Shuttle Endeavour started from Cape Canaveral for the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Its goal was to measure the world anew.
Its crew was made up of six astronauts coming from three countries, among them four scientists: Janice Voss, Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie, Janet Lynn Kavandi (USA), Gerhard Thiele (Germany), Mamoru Mohri (Japan) and Kevin R. Kregel (USA).