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Sunday, 24 November, 2002, 08:40 GMT
Space shuttle blasts off
The space shuttle Endeavour has blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida after nearly a month of delays.
The shuttle is carrying a new crew of seven to the International Space Station (ISS). Among them is the first native American astronaut.
Three of the astronauts are scheduled for a four-month stay on the space station. The other four, who will be returning with the Shuttle, include native American John Herrington. He is scheduled to take part in a series of spacewalks to install a space station girder. Good weather The launch went ahead when rain held off at one of the two overseas emergency landing strips in Spain. "Looks like we've got a good vehicle and good weather for you," launch director Mike Leinbach said.
The shuttle lit up the night sky as it left Earth, remaining visible for seven minutes. On Friday, the countdown had been halted less than 10 minutes before lift-off. The shuttle is due to reach the ISS on Monday. Its three current residents have been on board the orbital craft since June and are due to be replaced. Oxygen leak Endeavour should have blasted off on the 16th shuttle mission in October, but was grounded until November because of cracked fuel lines found throughout the shuttle fleet. Then on 11 November, the mission was delayed again. The shuttle had already been loaded with more than 1.9 million litres (500,000 gallons) of rocket fuel. The problem was a leak in the system that provides oxygen to the crew's helmets. The shuttle's 15-metre (50 foot) robot arm was also damaged when workers accidentally rammed a platform into it.
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See also:
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