The space shuttle Endeavour roared into space Friday night for the start of its 15-day mission that will see its astronauts going to the International Space Station for a bit of home d锟絚or renovation.
The launch went as scheduled at 7:55 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The shuttle separated from its external rockets at about 8:05 p.m.
Some of the items that Endeavour is delivering to the space station include: a new bathroom, kitchenette, exercise machine, two bedrooms and machine that will turn urine into drinking water.
The launch is the 31st out of 124 overall missions to go at night.
Although a night launch makes for great light show, it results in fewer photographs for NASA engineers to study. Ever since the 2003 Columbia disaster, NASA has aimed a legion of cameras at its shuttles during launch to look for falling fuel-tank foam or debris.
More pictures will be taken once the shuttle is in orbit and more inspections, including the use of high-tech lasers, will take place in space. Those inspections allow NASA to ascertain if Endeavour is ready to return to Earth.
There are seven astronauts, five men and two women, aboard the Endeavour. They are:
- Commander Christopher Ferguson, 47, a Navy captain and former test pilot. He was the co-pilot in a 2006 shuttle mission
- Pilot Eric Boe, 44, formerly of the U.S. Air Force, is on his first mission.
- Donald Pettit, 53, has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and will be spending one-and-a-half weeks at the space station. In 2003, he spent 5 1/2 months on the station.
- Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, 45, is the first woman assigned as the lead spacewalker on a shuttle flight. She used to be a diver in the Navy before joining NASA in 1996.
- Navy Capt. Stephen Bowen, 44, is scheduled to perform three spacewalks on his first shuttle mission. In 2000, he became the first submarine officer to be selected as an astronaut.
- Robert "Shane" Kimbrough, 41, joined NASA in 2000 as a flight simulation engineer and became an astronaut fours years later. He will perform two spacewalks on his first mission.
- Sandra Magnus, 44, is scheduled for a 3 1/2 month stay at the space station. She briefly visited the International Space Station in 2002.
The crew will be in space for American Thanksgiving. Commander Ferguson has said that seven turkey meals are stowed aboard the shuttle.
The made-to-order holiday meals includes irradiated smoked turkey, thermostabilized candied yams, rehydratable green beans and mushrooms, fresh corn bread dressing and cranberry-apple dessert.
