Endeavour launches without incident

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Space shuttle Endeavour roared into the early morning sky over Florida's Kennedy Space Center Monday in the last scheduled night shuttle launch.

Originally set for Sunday morning, the launch had to be delayed because of low clouds over the space center. Endeavour and its external fuel tank, with a combined weight of 4.5 million pounds, finally lifted off at 4:14 a.m. EST Monday without incident and without any pre-launch technical problems.

The shuttle's mission to the International Space Station is being led by Commander George Zamka, with Terry Virts serving as pilot. They and astronauts Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire will deliver the Italian-built Tranquility node -- the last of the three nodes that make up the space station -- and a seven-windowed cupola, to be used as a control room for robotics. The two other nodes are Unity and Harmony.

The STS-130 mission marks Endeavour's 24th flight and the 32nd shuttle trip dedicated to space station assembly and maintenance. The mission is to include three spacewalks before Endeavour's scheduled Feb. 20 return to Earth.