KENNEDY SPACE CENTER -- Space shuttle Endeavour lifted off early Tuesday morning in a rare nighttime launch for NASA's longest mission ever to the International Space Station.
The countdown was smooth, without any weather issues or technical glitches with the shuttle leading up to the launch.
On its arduous, 16-day mission, Endeavour and its seven-member crew will deliver the first installment of Japan's space station lab, Kibo.
The astronauts will also deposit a Canadian, two-armed robot designed to assist spacewalking astronauts at the orbiting complex.
In all, five spacewalks were planned for the mission.
Endeavour's 2:28 a.m. launch was only the second scheduled nighttime launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster, and the first in darkness since 2006.
Early on, NASA preferred day launches to make it easier to gather images of an ascending shuttle and its external fuel tank.
Kibo Module
With the launch of Endeavour comes the launch of a collaboration between NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
During their mission, Endeavour astronauts will be installing the 37-foot-long Kibo Japenese Experiment Module.
Kibo -- which means "hope" in Japanese -- is 14 feet longer than the European-built Columbia space lab, installed earlier in February by the crew of shuttle Atlantis.
Once installed, Kibo would be one of the largest modules on the International Space Station.
Kibo is equipped with its own robotic arm -- called "Dextre" -- made by the Canadian Space program, which astronauts would use to conduct tests in space, itself.
The module would also allow for astronauts to study Earth's atmosphere.
When installed, Kibo will be the largest part of the International Space Station, and will include an external platform that will eventually be used for experiments in orbit.
"For the Japanese, this mission takes tremendous importance, because it's their first manned spacecraft, and they are incredibly proud of it, and they have a right to be," said NASA mission manager Scott Higginbothan.
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