Space Shuttle Endeavour blasts off
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-09 09:09
Updated: 2007-08-09 09:09
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Crowds of people in Titusville, Florida watch the space shuttle Endeavour as it launches from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 8, 2007. Endeavour blasted off on Wednesday for a construction mission to the International Space Station, carrying a former teacher who first trained for space flight with the ill-fated Challenger crew. [Reuters] |
The space shuttle Endeavour, built to replace Challenger, is the last of the remaining U.S. shuttles to return to flight following the 2003 Columbia disaster.
But the waiting time was not wasted -- Endeavour underwent a total overhaul and upgrade in the intervening years and the 119th shuttle mission will feature a number of firsts.
Some highlights of the mission:
* First use by a U.S. space shuttle of a satellite navigation system, or GPS, for landing.
* First shuttle to run off the International Space Station's power through a connecting cable, thus extending the time it can dock at the outpost.
* Final flight of a Spacehab Inc. cargo carrier, a sort of U-Haul carrier that fits into the shuttle's payload bay and which can cart about 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.
* First time a space station crewmember will join a shuttle astronaut for a spacewalk. That means station astronaut Clay Anderson has not had a chance over the last two months to train in person with his spacewalking partners.
* Last shuttle flight before NASA delivers a second connecting node, or gateway, to the station so that Japanese and European partner labs can be hooked on -- making the station truly multinational.
But the waiting time was not wasted -- Endeavour underwent a total overhaul and upgrade in the intervening years and the 119th shuttle mission will feature a number of firsts.
Some highlights of the mission:
* First use by a U.S. space shuttle of a satellite navigation system, or GPS, for landing.
* First shuttle to run off the International Space Station's power through a connecting cable, thus extending the time it can dock at the outpost.
* Final flight of a Spacehab Inc. cargo carrier, a sort of U-Haul carrier that fits into the shuttle's payload bay and which can cart about 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.
* First time a space station crewmember will join a shuttle astronaut for a spacewalk. That means station astronaut Clay Anderson has not had a chance over the last two months to train in person with his spacewalking partners.
* Last shuttle flight before NASA delivers a second connecting node, or gateway, to the station so that Japanese and European partner labs can be hooked on -- making the station truly multinational.
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