Flawless Launch of Endeavour Does Not Go Unnoticed
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Endeavour roared into orbit Thursday, carrying a giant robotic arm that is needed to finish building the international space station.
The midafternoon launch went off without a hitch. Among the 20,000-plus guests watching the launch: four world leaders, dignitaries from several countries and even a celebrity couple, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.
“We’re trying to get a cross-section of America and a cross-section of the world to come and see what space is about,” NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said.
The shuttle blasted off the pad on a historic day, the 30th anniversary of the launch of the world’s first space station, the Soviet Union’s Salyut 1.
Space station Alpha and its three residents were over the Indian Ocean, near the Maldives, when Endeavour lifted off for its scheduled Saturday rendezvous.
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