Shuttle Lifts Off to Begin Work on Space Station
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The world’s most elite construction crew blazed into orbit Friday aboard space shuttle Endeavour to begin the complex task of assembling the international space station.
“Let’s go do this,” said shuttle commander Robert Cabana, eager to deliver the first American-made piece of the space station after a year’s delay and an exasperating, last-minute postponement the day before.
“Amen,” launch control replied.
Endeavour lifted off at 3:35 a.m. with a brilliant white flash. With that, the most massive construction project ever attempted in space had begun: the building of a 1-million-pound outpost 250 miles above Earth.
On Sunday evening, after a round-the-world chase, Endeavour’s astronauts are scheduled to capture Zarya, a space station module put into orbit by the Russians two weeks ago, and attach it to Unity, the U.S.-built part on board the shuttle.
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