Lift Off!

Last night, at 7:55 pm, NASA began the largest home makeover in space history. Space Shuttle Endeavor lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on time last night, and began its journey into orbit.
Seconds into the flight, the orbiter began its "Roll Program" which would roll the shuttle on its back, maximizing its engines power. Roughly a minute into the flight, FDO (Flight Dynamics Officer) said the words that to this day stir up sadness in every NASA flight controler. "Endeavor, go at throttle up." Those were the last words said to the Space Shuttle Challenger. Mission Commander Francis Scobee had just replied to Mission Command in Huston, Texas, with the words, "Roger, go at throttle up" when the orbiter Challenger exploded.
With this milestone out of the way, Endeavor continued to climb into space at a rate of two thousand miles per hour. Finally, ten minutes into the flight, the call was made. "Endeavor, press to MECO (Main Engine Cut-Off)." This call signified that even if all engines were lost at once, The orbiter would be able to acheive the altitude and speed to successfully rendeavous with the International Space Station.
In the first day after launch, the Endeavor crew will have the hull of the orbiter photographed, to find evidence if the shuttle is un-fit to return to earth in its current state. On day three, the shuttle will undergo a process known as the rendeavous pitch meneuver, which will give the ISS crew a photo opportunity, once again to photograph the orbiters hull with the purpose of finding weak spots in the shuttles heat tiles.

-NASA launch went as planned
-Only one problem with the launch process and that was declared "non-critical"
-"White Room" door not pinned in place, during retraction, it moved slightly, but not enough to endanger anyone or the mission.
-Door is not on the orbiter Endeavor
-7:55 Launch was a spectacular sight to see, with views from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and the external fuel tank on the shuttle/orbiter itself.
-Today the shuttle will undergo photography of its hull in attempt to forewarn of any problems that could arise on re-entry.
-Tomorrow the Shuttle will complete what is called the back flip, or rendezvous pitch maneuver. A nine minute process that allows the International Space Station crew to further photograph the hull of the orbiter, and again determine whether the shuttle is fit to return to earths orbit in its current state.