Sometimes, the space shuttle
launches at night.
Pictured above , the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off in yesterday's early morning hours from
Launch Pad 39A in
Kennedy
Space Center ,
Florida ,
USA ,
bound for the
International Space Station (ISS).
A night launch , useful for reaching the space station easily during some times of the year, frequently creates
vivid launch imagery .
The shuttle, as
pictured above , is framed by an enormous but typical
exhaust plume ejected as the shuttle's
powerful rockets
began lifting the two million kilogram
space bus into
Earth orbit .
Endeavour's mission, labeled
STS-130 , includes the
delivery of the
Tranquility module to the space station.
Tranquility will provide extra room for space station astronauts
and includes a large
circular set of windows designed to bestow vastly
improved views of the Earth, the night sky, and the
space station itself .
