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.
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.
Report this comment