CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Endeavour thundered into the night with massive solar wings needed to energize the international space station.
Endeavour and its five astronauts immediately gave chase to the space station, Alpha, which was soaring high above the Indian Ocean at the moment of liftoff late Thursday. Its three residents were supposedly asleep.
The shuttle should catch up with the station on Saturday, and the electricity-producing solar wings installed on Sunday with the help of two spacewalkers.
Endeavour's climb to orbit began right on time and was perfect the whole way. The shuttle resembled a bright star as it sped through a clear sky and headed up the East Coast; it was spotted as far north as Long Island, N.Y.
Gov. Jeb Bush, on hand for his first shuttle launch, was grateful for some good news for his state.
''I don't know if you've noticed. You all have been very busy. But there's a lot of attention on Florida over the last couple of weeks,'' Bush told launch controllers, drawing a big laugh. ''I want to tell you that the best of Florida is right here, not what is being depicted on television, but what just happened right now.''
The world's largest, most powerful set of spacecraft solar wings is stuffed into Endeavour's cargo bay. Attaching the $600 million wings to the space station represents NASA's most daunting construction job to date.
Once unfurled, the wings will stretch 240 feet from tip to tip, and 38 feet across, constituting the largest structure ever deployed in space. It is one of the heaviest shuttle payloads ever, 35,000 pounds counting all the batteries and radiators.
The wings, designed to catch sunlight for electricity, will provide the power necessary to open up the entire station and to run the U.S.-made laboratory section when it arrives in January. Alpha's commander, Bill Shepherd, and his Russian crewmates have been confined to two of the station's three rooms because of insufficient power for heating.
Besides the solar wings, Endeavour is carrying Christmas presents for Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev from their families. The men are one month into their four-month station mission.
Even though their spacecraft will link up Saturday, the Endeavour and Alpha crews will not meet until Dec. 8. The shuttle astronauts must conduct three spacewalks to hook up the solar wings and install other equipment before all the hatches can be opened.
NASA was thrilled to end 2000 with such a successful launch. It was the third shuttle launch in as many months, all to the space station, and the fifth for the year.
''It's a good way for us to close out this year of launches,'' said manager James Halsell, ''and to look forward to what will be a challenging new year.''
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