Endeavour Finally Heads to Space
Maybe it was Mission Specialist Christopher Cassidy's rally cap or the hearty thumbs from astronaut Dave Wolf. Whatever the reason, the space shuttle Endeavour's seven-person crew put a month of bad luck behind them July 15, blasting off for a 16-day construction mission to the ISS (International Space Station).
While weather threatened the liftoff earlier in the day, the late afternoon clouds around Cape Canaveral cleared enough for Endeavour to hit its scheduled launch of 6:03 p.m. (EDT) and begin its 8.5-minute flight into space. Stormy Florida weather forced NASA to postpone launches on July 11, 12 and 13. In June, NASA twice scratched the mission due a launch pad hydrogen gas leak that has since been fixed.
"The weather is finally cooperating and it is now time to fly," Launch Director Pete Nickolenko told the STS-127 astronauts as the mission received its final go for launch. "We're ready to go and we're taking all of you with us on a great mission," Commander Mark Polansky radioed back.
