New laboratory data of ethyl mercaptan, CH_3_CH_2_SH, in the millimeter- and submillimeter-wave domains (up to 880GHz) provided very precise values of the spectroscopic constants that allowed the detection of gauche-CH_3_CH_2_ SH toward Orion KL. This identification is supported by 77 unblended or slightly blended lines plus no missing transitions in the range 80-280GHz. A detection of methyl mercaptan, CH_3_SH, in the spectral survey of Orion KL is reported as well. Our column density results indicate that methyl mercaptan is {=~}5 times more abundant than ethyl mercaptan in the hot core of Orion KL.