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Endeavor Space Shuttle launch from space station early Sunday morning at around 4:15 a.m. The Space Shuttle made it to the skies after the final nighttime a shuttle launch.
US space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of six astronauts are headed for the International Space Station to deliver a module dubbed Tranquility.
The spacecraft successfully reached orbit about eight and a half minutes later.
The mission comes as NASA begins to reevaluate its future after President Barack Obama effectively abandoned the US space agency's plan to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.
The Constellation program was intended to develop a successor spacecraft to the shuttle, which could be used to carry astronauts to the moon where they would use a lunar base to launch manned missions to Mars.
The Endeavour mission's main goal is the delivery of the Tranquility module, also known as Node 3, which comes with a multi-window cupola attached.
The cupola, built for NASA by the European group Thales Alenia Space in their Turin factory, will allow for panoramic views of Earth, space objects and spacecraft arriving at the ISS, the US space agency said.
With Endeavour's delivery of Tranquility and its attached cupola, the International Space Station will be 90 percent complete, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.
Tranquility, which weighs 18 tonnes, is seven meters long and has a 4.5-meter (15-foot) diameter, while the cupola dome weighs 1.9 tonnes, and measures 1.5 meters with a 2.9 meter diameter.
Installing the module is expected to require a team of two astronauts to undertake three spacewalks lasting 6.5 hours each.
Tranquility, named after the lunar sea where Apollo 11 landed, has the most sophisticated life support system ever flown into space.
It has air revitalization, oxygen generation and water recycling systems and also contains a waste and hygiene compartment for the crew.
The cupola attached to Tranquility boasts six windows arrayed along its sides as well as a central window all built with protection against the impact of tiny meteorites that will offer an unprecedented panoramic view for those onboard.
But the cupola will also serve an important work function, accommodating two crew members at a time, and is equipped with portable workstations that can control station and robotic activities.
The ISS, a joint project involving 16 countries, has cost around 100 billion dollars, mostly provided by the United States.
Watch Space Shuttle Endeavor Launch Video.
source: news.yahoo.com
US space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of six astronauts are headed for the International Space Station to deliver a module dubbed Tranquility.
The spacecraft successfully reached orbit about eight and a half minutes later.
The mission comes as NASA begins to reevaluate its future after President Barack Obama effectively abandoned the US space agency's plan to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.
The Constellation program was intended to develop a successor spacecraft to the shuttle, which could be used to carry astronauts to the moon where they would use a lunar base to launch manned missions to Mars.
The Endeavour mission's main goal is the delivery of the Tranquility module, also known as Node 3, which comes with a multi-window cupola attached.
The cupola, built for NASA by the European group Thales Alenia Space in their Turin factory, will allow for panoramic views of Earth, space objects and spacecraft arriving at the ISS, the US space agency said.
With Endeavour's delivery of Tranquility and its attached cupola, the International Space Station will be 90 percent complete, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.
Tranquility, which weighs 18 tonnes, is seven meters long and has a 4.5-meter (15-foot) diameter, while the cupola dome weighs 1.9 tonnes, and measures 1.5 meters with a 2.9 meter diameter.
Installing the module is expected to require a team of two astronauts to undertake three spacewalks lasting 6.5 hours each.
Tranquility, named after the lunar sea where Apollo 11 landed, has the most sophisticated life support system ever flown into space.
It has air revitalization, oxygen generation and water recycling systems and also contains a waste and hygiene compartment for the crew.
The cupola attached to Tranquility boasts six windows arrayed along its sides as well as a central window all built with protection against the impact of tiny meteorites that will offer an unprecedented panoramic view for those onboard.
But the cupola will also serve an important work function, accommodating two crew members at a time, and is equipped with portable workstations that can control station and robotic activities.
The ISS, a joint project involving 16 countries, has cost around 100 billion dollars, mostly provided by the United States.
Watch Space Shuttle Endeavor Launch Video.
source: news.yahoo.com
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