Endeavor takes off after many delays

After more than a month of delay, the US shuttle Endeavor was launched last night with seven astronauts. The mission has the mission to bring Japanese space laboratory parts to assemble with the International Space Station (ISS).

Endeavor took off on 18:00 yesterday (local time) from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center (located on Cananveral Cape, Florida). This is also the Apollo 11 launcher to take off to bring 3 astronauts to the moon 40 years ago. Endeavor will arrive at the ISS station next Friday afternoon. This will be the first time this space station has 13 people at the same time (the previous record is 10 people).

The US Aeronautics Agency (NASA) plans to launch Endeavor from mid-June, but it has to be delayed five times due to hydrogen gas leaks and bad weather. Yesterday, all the new elements allowed the crew to board the ship to make the 16-day journey. The people who came to see it only saw the ship for 3 minutes before it disappeared after thin clouds.

Ship Endeavor took off yesterday after 5 delays.(Photo: AP)

However, NASA managers have reason to worry when they watch the launch video. Many insulated ceramic pieces of the external fuel tank pop out while the ship leaves the launch pad . Bill Gerstenmaier, director of NASA programs, said that 2 or 3 pieces of insulating ceramic were hitting the shuttle. But he thinks they will not cause serious problems.

Earlier, the American space shuttle Columbia exploded while returning to Earth due to a hole in the wing. Subsequent investigations revealed that the hole formed after some insulated ceramic pieces fell during the take-off.

The engineers are watching the video of the ship Endeavor yesterday. This was a mandatory procedure since the Columbia ship disaster in 2003. Gerstenmaier said the technical experts enlarged the images of Endeavor parts before it arrived at the International Space Station to see if the problem was serious problem or not.

Endeavor will connect with ISS for nearly two weeks for the third assembly of astronauts of Japan's giant Kibo space lab . Two previous parts of it were posted last year. The astronauts will make 5 space walks to perform this task.