Endeavour lifts off with wings for ISS

CAPE CANAVERAL (FLORIDA), DEC. 1. The space shuttle Endeavour blasted off carrying five astronauts and giant solar wings for the International Space Station (ISS).

The shuttle rose from its seaside pad at 10:06 p.m. (local time) on Thursday in a brilliant blaze of light that turned night into day for miles around. It resembled a bright star as it soared through a clear sky into orbit.

``This is a beautiful night to fly'', the launch director, Mr. Mike Leinbach, told the astronauts just before liftoff, ``So we wish you luck. Have fun and give our best to Shep, Sergei and Yuri,'' the space station's three residents - one American and two Russians. Endeavour's cargo bay is filled with the world's largest, most powerful set of spacecraft solar wings.

Once unfurled, the wings will stretch 72 metres tip to tip, and 11 metres across, constituting the largest structure ever deployed in space.

It is one of the heaviest shuttle payloads ever, 15,750 kgs of panels and associated batteries and radiators.

The electricity-producing solar wings will provide the power necessary to open up the entire station and to run the U.S.-made laboratory when it arrives in January.

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Section  : International
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