Space Shuttle Launches - Finally!

Cape Canaveral, Florida -- July 16, 2009 —After six attempts scrubbed by poor weather and technical issues, space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-member crew launched at 6:03 p.m. EDT Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Following a smooth countdown with no technical issues and weather that steadily improved throughout the afternoon, the shuttle lifted off from Launch Pad 39A and began its orbital chase of the International Space Station. The mission will deliver the final segment to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and a new crewmember to the orbiting space station. Endeavour's 16-day mission includes five spacewalks and the installation of two platforms outside the Japanese module. One platform is permanent and will allow experiments to be directly exposed to space. The other is an experiment storage pallet that will be detached and returned with the shuttle. During the mission, Kibo's robotic arm will transfer three experiments from the pallet to the exposed platform. Future experiments also can be moved to the platform from the inside of the station using the laboratory's airlock. Shortly before liftoff, Commander Mark Polansky thanked the teams that helped make the launch possible. "Endeavour has patiently waited for this," said Polansky. "We're ready to go, and we're going to take all of you with us on a great mission." Polansky is joined on STS-127 by pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Dave Wolf, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette and Tim Kopra. Kopra will replace space station crewmember Koichi Wakata, who has been aboard the station for more than three months. Kopra will return to Earth during the next station shuttle mission, STS-128, targeted to launch in August 2009. Endeavour's first landing opportunity at Kennedy is scheduled for July 31 at 10:45 a.m. NASA is providing continuous television and Internet coverage of Endeavour's mission. NASA Television features live mission events, daily mission status news conferences and 24-hour commentary. In addition, Polansky will send updates about the mission from space to his Twitter account and live updates to the NASA News Twitter feed will be added throughout the shuttle mission and landing.		Space shuttle Endeavour launches from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA TV Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Jeffrey Marino The STS-1217 crew. Front row, Commander Mark Polansky (right) and Pilot Doug Hurley. Back row , from left, astronauts Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Canadian Space Agency's Julie Payette, Tom Marshburn and Tim Kopra.

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