Cheered by an excellent forecast, seven astronauts boarded space shuttle Endeavour for liftoff Thursday on a mission to install a massive billion-dollar robot arm on the international space station.
Crew arrives at Cape Monday.
A few of the astronauts held up signs, with greetings for their wives and children, before heading to the launch pad and climbing aboard. Forecasters said the prospect for favorable weather was 90 percent. Once the shuttle reaches the station, the assembly and installation of the robotic device will require two lengthy spacewalks. With the installation, Canada will join the United States, Russia and Italy as the major contributors of hardware to the 16-nation project. Starting with the next assembly flight, a June mission that will deliver the American air-lock module, the new robotic arm will inherit construction duties once relegated to the shuttle's smaller and less capable robot arm.