Just a few minutes ago, the space shuttled launched on a mission to the International Space Station. We've had night launches before, but never one this early in the morning as far as I can remember, so I was a bit excited.
Unfortunately, it was rather anticlimactic in the end because cloud cover prevented us from seeing it except for very brief glimpses. Otherwise it was a good launch with no glitches, which is always what you hope for these days.
Their mission is to deliver the first of three compontents that will make up a new lab module called Kibo ("Hope)", designed and built by the Japanese. The module is so big, it will require two more missions to deliver all of it. And among the crew is a Japanese astronaut.
They're also transporting a Canadian "robot" of sorts, a module with two multi-jointed arms that will be used in outside maintenance to cut down on the number of space walks.
You can read about it HERE.
I'm still unable to submit the e-card I made. This is getting more than a little aggrivating.
And I'd like to give an official hello to my new friends Dagger IX1, SunfallE, and Shishou 
