Space shuttle Endeavour marked the sky with a fiery trail as it rocketed into space before dawn Tuesday, carrying with it a Canadian robot named Dextre and the first part of a massive Japanese space lab.
The shuttle lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 2:28 a.m., in a rare night-time launch -- the first since 2006. Only 25 per cent of NASA's shuttles have ever blasted off in the dark.
"God truly has blessed us with a beautiful night here ... to launch, so let's light them up and give Him a show," Endeavour's commander, Dominic Gorie, radioed to Mission Control.
Five minutes after launch, Endeavour's three engines were functioning normally with no signs of failure. The external tank then separated and the shuttle continued its journey into orbit.
Industry Minister Jim Prentice was at Kennedy Space Center for the launch, and was enthused by what he witnessed.
"It's a spectacular night launch,'' Prentice told The Canadian Press just minutes after the launch.
"The Endeavour just explodes off the launch pad and into the atmosphere and it illuminates not just the night sky but really the entire Kennedy Space Centre for dozens of miles around."
Endeavour's seven-member crew -- including Japanese astronaut Takao Doi -- have embarked on a 16-day mission to the international space station. It's the longest such mission NASA has ever attempted.
Once connected to the station, the crew will set up a storage compartment that's the first component of the Japanese lab Kibo (Hope). Most of the lab itself will be transported on the next shuttle mission in May.
Japanese engineers and scientists started designing Kibo in 1990 but actual construction was delayed until now, partly because of the Columbia disaster in 2003.
"Our Japanese people have been waiting for a very long, long time," said Yoshiyuki Hasegawa, the Japanese Space Agency's station program manager.
When the crew performs maintenance operations on the shuttle and space station, they'll have the help of a brand new robot with two skillful hands: Dextre. It's full, less catchy name is Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.
The robot is designed to do regular tasks outside the station like replacing batteries and wires, and will reduce the number of dangerous space walks astronauts must perform.
"They'll be safer inside, free from the harsh environment -- the temperatures, radiation and micrometeorites," Shelley Sindelar of the Canadian Space Agency told CTV News on Monday.
Sara Poirier, of the Ontario Science Centre, told CTV's Canada AM that Dextre is the final component of Canada's contribution to the International Space Station. The previous elements were the Canadarm and Canadarm 2.
Poirier agreed the implementation of the robot will protect astronauts by minimizing their time outside the station, reducing the risk from radiation exposure and micro meteorites.
"It's a real step forward in terms of how we service and maintain the hardware on the International Space Station," Poirier said.
But the Endeavour crew will first have to venture into that environment to assemble Dextre's seven pieces, and attach the 1,560-kilogram robot to the outside of the station.
Once it's put together, Dextre will have a monstrous height of 3.7 metres and a width of 2.4 metres. He'll also have two multi-jointed arms, with sensors on the wrists that give his hands "a sense of touch," according to Richard Rembala of Ontario's MDA Robotics, the company that built the device.
Along with installing the first part of Kibo and putting together Dextre, the Endeavour astronauts will also try a new way to repair their shuttle's exterior.
Crewmembers will use a caulking gun to apply a sticky goo to intentionally damaged thermal tiles -- the same tiles that often bear the brunt of falling ice chunks and debris when a shuttle launches into space.
With files from The Associated Press
