Coming up: Endeavour departure decision

The 10 astronauts aboard Endeavour and the International Space Station soon will part ways and NASA managers will outline a plan that could call for the shuttle to depart the outpost Sunday and land early to avoid the threat of Hurricane Dean.

Look for the joined crews to gather in the U.S. Destiny laboratory and say goodbye around 4:46 p.m. EDT. Hatches between the spacecraft will swing shut about 5 p.m. A news briefing is tentatively scheduled to begin at the time.

You can watch the events unfold live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the link below the Mission Webcast headline to launch our NASA TV viewer. Start-up time is about 20 seconds.

Hurricane Dean, now a Category 4 storm and packing winds of 150 mph, is prompting NASA to consider a shuttle departure from the station at 7:56 a.m. EDT Sunday. Churning through the Caribbean, the storm could threaten NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston, so managers are considering a shuttle landing attempt Tuesday -- a day ahead of schedule and two days prior to the predicted storm landfall in northeast Mexico.

The weather at Kennedy Space Center Tuesday is expected to be generally favorable with a slight chance of rain showers within 30 nautical miles of the shuttle runway. The forecast for Edwards Air Force Base is very good, and there is a chance of thunderstorms at Northrup Strip in New Mexico.

The Spaceflight Meteorology Group at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston presented the outlook to mission managers today. Take a look at the group's Powerpoint presentation here: Landing_Wx.ppt.

The first landing opportunity Tuesday would come at 12:29 p.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center. There would be a second opportunity at KSC that day at 2:04 p.m. EDT.

Take a look at the STS-118 deorbit opportunities here: deorbit0818.doc. Note that all times are CDT. Add one hour for EDT.