The space shuttle Discoverylifted off yesterday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying seven astronauts on a 13-day mission to the International Space Station.
Discoveryblasted off with a pair of solar wing panels and the first Japanese resident astronaut for the International Space Station after Nasa shook off a month of delays to launch its 125th shuttle mission.
There was no sign of the hydrogen fuel leak that shut down Discovery's launch attempt last week and no issues with valves in the ship's engines that triggered four previous delays. In the final hour before launch.
Discovery's crew includes Koichi Wakata (45), who will be left behind on the space station as Japan's first resident crew member. Nasa last year delivered and installed the main components of Japan's Kibo laboratory at the orbital complex.
The shuttle will spend the next 13 days in orbit, speeding around the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour (28,160 kph). For eight of those days it will be lodged at the space station, which is nearing completion after more than a decade of construction 225 miles above Earth.
The space station is about 75 per cent complete and when complete will be larger than a full sized soccer field.
The primary goal of the mission is to deliver the last piece of the station's 11-part external backbone, the structural spine of the $100 billion outpost.
The $300 million truss segment in Discovery's cargo hold contains the final set of solar wing panels to bring the station up to full power, with 120 kilowatts of electricity - enough to power 42 homes of 2,800 square-feet.
Reuters