The launch is among the final space shuttle missions, and the last to occur in darkness (Getty Images)

The US space shuttle has made its final night launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Endeavour orbiter soared into the Florida sky on a 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

It is delivering a connecting node and a large window module in what will be one of the last ISS assembly flights.

The US space agency (Nasa) plans just four further shuttle missions after this one – and all of them are planned to launch in daylight hours.

Monday's blast-off occurred at 0414 local time (0914 GMT), 24 hours behind schedule. Endeavour should have left Earth on Sunday but was held on the pad because of a thick layer of cloud blanketing Florida's Space Coast.


NODE 3 – 'TRANQUILITY'
Node 3 (Esa)
  • Key unit connects and helps manage other ISS modules
  • Multiple docking ports for visiting vehicles or future modules
  • 7m by 4.6m; a mass of 14 tonnes, but will be fitted out in orbit
  • Sophisticated life support systems will include air cleaning unit
  • Cupola to be fixed to an Earth-facing port once in orbit
  • Panoramic views provide ideal control room for robotic arm
  • Named after Sea of Tranquility, the Apollo 11 landing site

Endeavour's mission is an important moment for the European Space Agency's (Esa) contribution to the station project. Both the new modules were manufactured in Italy by Thales Alenia Space.

Node 3, also known as Tranquility, will house the station's core life-support systems.

It will also store a treadmill the crew must use regularly to exercise their bodies and maintain bone density.

One of the risks of living in microgravity conditions is that bones tend to lose strength over time.

The Cupola is an observation tower that will be used to control robots working on the exterior of the platform.

It is constructed in the shape of a dome, with six trapezoidal side windows and a circular top window of a little under 80cm, making it the largest window ever built for space.

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