STS-127: LIFTOFF!

...and LIFTOFF of Endeavour, completing Kibo and fulfilling Japan's hope for an out-of-this-world space laboratory!

Finally! On the sixth launch attempt, Florida's summer storms held off and allowed Endeavour to launch on a construction and crew-transfer mission to the International Space Station. NASA reports:

Endeavour And Crew Launch, Head For Station

Image above: Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy SPace Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA TV

STS-127 Mission Overview
The 16-day mission will feature five spacewalks and complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to space.

The STS-127 crew members are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station.

STS-127 Additional Resources
› Mission Press Kit (6.9 Mb PDF)
› Mission Summary (429 Kb PDF)
› Meet the STS-127 Crew

Live HD webcast at SpaceVidCast. Launch clip at YouTube and BBC. Preflight pics are up at CBC, JSC, and Sentinel. Launch blog at NASA. Pics and video at KSC. More clips at Space Multimedia. Live video at SFN. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.