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SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOR LAUNCHED DESPITE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

Story Filed: Friday, February 11, 2000 2:03 PM EST

Cape Canaveral, Feb 11, 2000 (EFE via COMTEX) -- After technical problems threatened to temporarily scuttle its mission just nine minutes before a scheduled lift-off, NASA on Friday successfully launched the shuttle Endeavor.

Excessive pressure within the cabin and a technical glitch in the operation of a hydraulic pump led the agency to temporarily abort the launch, but lift-off was successfully achieved shortly at 12:43 p.m. (1743 GMT), a spokesman from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced.

The Endeavor, under the command of Kevin Kregel, will conduct an 11-day mission to produce a detailed topographical map of Earth, expected to be up to 30 times more accurate than current maps.

Now, mission controllers are tensely awaiting the deploment of the 60 meter (200 feet) long mast carrying one of the two radar imaging antennas that will be used to create highly accurate three-dimensional images of the earth's surface.

The Endeavor will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 235 kilometers (146 miles). EFE

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-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 11, 2000

Answers

Thanks for the post Dee;

It is being wildly reported that Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji is so mad, that he has had to stuff food in BOTH cheeks just to see well enough to shoot several of his top scientists!

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswwest.net), February 11, 2000.

It launched a few minutes late, but was very pretty to watch going up--not as nice as a night shot. I think they had to replace the GPS the other day, which I thought was interesting.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), February 11, 2000.