Endeavour lifts off safely for final space mission

Published on Monday 16 May 2011 17:17

Endeavour's commander urged America to continue to "reach for the stars" yesterday as he led the orbiter on its 25th and final space mission, marking another historic moment in Nasa history and another chapter in his own extraordinary story.

US Navy Captain Mark Kelly and his five crew blasted off from Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to tears, cheers and cries of "Go Endeavour" from an estimated half a million viewers who watched from the ground.

Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Cdr Kelly's wife, joined other family members on a rooftop at the space centre to see her husband head into orbit, capping her four-month struggle to recover after she was shot during a public event in January. Six people were killed in the attack, including a nine-year-old girl.

"Good stuff. Good stuff," Ms Giffords, 42, said to her staff after Endeavour lifted off.

She despatched her husband with a handwritten note to open in space. The couple, married in 2007, also gave one another their wedding rings to wear during the 16-day mission.

Endeavour will spend 16 days in space and will spend the next two days circling the Earth playing catch-up with the International Space Station (ISS), where it will dock on Wednesday. It is the 134th mission by a shuttle since the first orbiter was launched in 1981 and the last time Endeavour will fly in space before it is decommissioned and sent to a museum in California.

It is carrying a $2 billion particle physics experiment to the ISS, which will gather and analyse cosmic particles to shed light on how the universe was formed. It will be installed during four "extra-vehicular activities" - spacewalks - by the astronauts.

The mission will also deliver spare parts to help tide the ISS through the five years or longer gap between the retirement of the shuttles and the creation of a replacement.