Space shuttle Endeavourblasted off toward the International Space Station today. It is carrying a huge robotic arm to help build the $95 billion orbiting laboratory.
The launch from Kennedy Space Center was on schedule at 2.40 p.m. (6.40 Irish time), under fair skies with light winds and cool temperatures.
Endeavour's seven-member crew includes four Americans, one Russian, one Italian and one Canadian.
Canadian Chris Hadfield will be instrumental in installing Canadarm2, a $900 million, 58-foot-long (17.6 metre) robotic arm designed to act as a mobile construction crane in space.
Another main payload is the Italian-built Raffaello logistics module, nicknamed Ralph. The cargo carrier will drop off research supplies and experiments and leave the space station when Endeavourdoes in about a week.
