Space shuttle Endeavour turned night into day in the predawn hours over Florida this morning, roaring into space on a 13-day mission to deliver the final U.S. built module and unique observation window to the International Space station. The shuttle's blazing liftoff marked the final planned night launch for the program before the fleet is retired this year.
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At T-6 six seconds, Endeavour's three liquid fueled main engines rumbled to life one at time in stair-step fashion, building to full thrust at T-0. At 4:14:07 a.m. EST, the shuttle's onboard computers gave the command to ignite the twin solid rocket boosters and fire the eight explosive bolts to release the shuttle from the launch pad. Riding atop a tongue of flame as bright as a rising Sun, silently at first, Endeavour raced skyward and rolled around to align itself with the proper flight trajectory as the thunderour roar of its 7 million pounds of thrust rolled over the gathered media at the Kennedy Space Center Press Site. All along the Space Coast, thousands of local residents and tourists gathered along bridges, the rivers and sides of roadways to catch the spectacle. Young and aold alike gathered en masse, staying after the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl or waking up early to watch Endeavour take to the skies. Eight and a half minutes after launch, the main engines shut down as planned and Endeavour settled into a preliminary orbit to begin its two and a half day chase of the International Space Station. A cameras mounted on the external tank, standard practice in the post-Columbia era, captured the shuttle's ascent through orbit insertion. Several minor instances of debris shedding could be seen on the camera, but nothing that appeared to impact the shuttle or capable of causing damage. "At about two minutes, we saw a piece of intertank stringer foam come off," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, said during a postlaunch press conference. "It's probably about a quarter inch thick, maybe about a foot or so long. It didn't appear to impact the orbiter and we see no damage to the orbiter." Over the coming days, Engineers will study the video from the external tank camera as well as cameras mounted on the solid rocket boosters in order to clear Endeavour's heat shield for reentry. Once Endeavour was in orgit, the STS-130 crew, led by commander George Zamka and pilot Terry Virts, along with mission specialists Bob Behnken, Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson and Nicholas Patrick doffed their orange launch and entry suits and set about the task of transitioning the orbiter from a rocketship to a spaceship before settling in for the night. Endeavour's mission has been long-anticipated as it will essentially complete construction of the U.S. segment of the space station. The four remaining missions are dedicated to delivering spare parts and a smaller Russian research module. Tucked away inside Endeavour is Node 3, named "Tranquility" following a public naming contest subverted by comedian Stephen Colbert who urged viewers to name the modul after him. Colbert won the contest, so in a sort of concession, NASA named a new treadmill the COLBERT (Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill) while naming the new module Tranquility. Tranquility will house life support equipment a robotics work station and a waste collection unit. The module will also offer a unique view to space for oribting astronauts. The module will be attached to the port side common berthing mechanism of the station's Unity connecting node. Mounted on the outside of Tranquility will be a first-of-its-kind seven windowed cupola which will provide a 360-degree view of the space station with Earth below and outer space above. The cupola will serve an important operation purpose since it will provide clear lines of sight for astronauts operating the station's 50-foot long mobile robot arm. STS-130 will feature three spacewalks by Behnken and Patrick to assist in the installation of Tranquility, hook up the electrical and cooling system and move the cupola from its launch position at the end of the module to the new module's nadir, or Earth-facing, berthing port. The shuttle's cargo bay is too narrow for it to have launched with the cupola mounted on the side of Trqnquility. Also on the manifest for the mission is the delivery of replacement hardware for the station's waste water recycling system, designed to turn "today's coffee into tomorrow's coffee". The system is out of commission due to unexpectedly high levels of calcium deposits in the distillation assembly. Not needing to be as strong in the weightless environment, bones leech calcium during the time an astronaut is on orbit, and the mineral is removed from the body by urine, which in turn is recycled by the waste water recycling system. Rendezvous operations for Endeavour's docking with ISS will begin around 6:44 p.m. on Feb. 9. The orbiter and space station will meet up in space for a week of joint operations at 12:06 a.m. EST. (The Spacearium / SpaceflightNews.net)
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