Endeavour's Launch Lights Up the Night Sky

By Nancy Atkinson - March 11, 2008 12:13 AM UTC | Space Exploration

With a spectacular and rare nighttime launch, space shuttle Endeavour lit up the dark sky and rocketed flawlessly to orbit. The shuttle launched at 2:28 am EST to begin its chase of the International Space Station. During the planned 16-day mission, the crew's two prime objectives are to deliver and attach to the ISS the first component of Japan's new laboratory called Kibo, as well as Canada's new robotics system, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre. STS-123 is the 25th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

The launch of the first section of the Kibo lab is Japan’s first contribution to the space station. For the first time since space station construction began nearly 10 years ago, all five major partners will have hardware as part of the orbiting complex.

NASA astronaut Dominic Gorie commands a crew of six, including Pilot Greg Johnson and Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman, Garrett Reisman and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi. Johnson, Behnken and Foreman are making their first spaceflight. The crew has a busy flight, with five spacewalks for station construction. They will also test different repair techniques for damaged shuttle tiles.

Reisman will stay on board the station, replacing Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Leopold Eyharts, who arrived at the ISS aboard Atlantis in February, and he will return to Earth with the Endeavour crew.

Original News Source:

NASA

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com