The American Space Shuttle Endeavor
has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
on its sixth attempt
after more than a month of delays
caused by fuel leaks and thunderstorms.
Bill Gerstenmaier of NASA said
finally the weather had been favorable
and the shuttle crew were looking ahead
to completing the installation of the Japanese Kibo laboratory
on the space station.
We had a great launch today.
We were ready.
The weather finally cooperated
and we had just an awesome launch today.
Again, I would caution you
that the mission is very challenging in front of us.
The five EVAs, the robotic activities
will take the absolute best the teams
have both in Houston and in orbit.
And the teams are fully prepared
they are ready to go do what they need to go do
and we look forward to the exciting activities
as we install the Exposed Facility out on the Kibo module.