Space shuttle Endeavour blasts off (2nd Lead)

Washington - Space shuttle Endeavour lifted off late Friday from Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida for a construction mission to the International Space Station. The shuttle and its seven-member crew blasted off at 7:55 pm (0055 GMT Saturday) for a 15-day flight that is to include four spacewalks to repair joints that allow the station's solar panels to rotate toward the sun and to prepare the ISS for expansion. Each spacewalk is expected to last more than six hours and will also enable astronauts to install a nitrogen tank, a global positioning system and a camera outside the ISS. The night launch lit up the Florida sky and NASA said residents of the US East Coast would be able to view the shuttle overhead if cloud cover cooperated. The Endeavour will deliver 6,538 kilograms of supplies and equipment to upgrade the space station's living space and prepare it for more residents on longer-term assignments, after the retirement in 2010 of the US fleet of aging reusable orbiters. 'It's our turn to take home improvement to a whole new level after 10 years of the International Space Station,' Commander Chris Ferguson said just before launch. The payload will be delivered in the reusable, Italian-built Leonardo module that will be transferred to the ISS using the shuttle's robotic arm. Astronauts will later fill it with old equipment and scientific samples and bring it back to Earth aboard Endeavour. The delivery includes an exercise machine, a second toilet, two sleep stations and a water recycling pump to turn urine into drinking water. New kitchen equipment will also be part of the delivery with the addition of two food warmers and a refrigerator.

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Steve RealNov 15th, 2008 - 03:02:12

I want to see NASA put the first African American woman on the moon. It would a real politikal coup in my opinion. And let's face it fellas? We are living in the 'Oprah generation'. It's got TV value written all over it.

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