Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-member crew lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 7:55 p.m. EST Friday to repair and remodel the International Space Station. Endeavour’s STS-126 mission is carrying to space about 32,000 pounds, which includes supplies and equipment necessary to double the crew size from three to six members in spring 2009. The new station cargo includes additional sleeping quarters, a second toilet, a water reclamation system and a resistance exercise device.

In a series of spacewalks, astronauts will service and repair the International Space Station’s Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which keep the solar arrays on the outboard truss segments oriented toward the sun. In 2007, engineers noticed high currents and vibration in the starboard truss, which has limited its use. Astronauts will repair the malfunctioning joint and lubricate the other port-side truss.

The port-side truss is complete with two sets of arrays, and is operating successfully. The starboard truss has one set of arrays, with another set scheduled for attachment in early 2009.

STS-126 launches with new software that enhances astronaut safety. The upgrade, provided by United Space Alliance, improves crew situational awareness, long-term system maintainability and robustness, and enhances vehicle performance in the unlikely event of an abort.

The updates, collectively known as Operational Increment 33 software, or OI-33, have been made to the Primary Avionics Software System (PASS) that flies the Space Shuttle, the Backup Flight System (BFS) software that could take over from PASS if needed, and the display software used in the Multifunction Electronic Display Subsystem (MEDS) computers.

The astronauts have two new displays that give them real-time data to help select the safest landing site in the unlikely event the Shuttle cannot reach orbit or in the event of an emergency reentry.

The Ascent Bearing Display, designed for use during launch, includes multiple maps that change as the Orbiter position moves. Shuttle General Purpose Computers compute constantly updated estimates of the distance that the orbiter can glide. This information is presented to the flight crew through the Bearing Display maps, which include location markers for the available Shuttle nominal and abort landing sites within that estimated distance.

The Entry Bearing Display, designed for use during an abort landing, shows a plot of the estimated distance, or range, to three crew-selected landing sites. The Display includes the range and any maneuvers required to reach a landing site as well as an estimation of whether the orbiter has enough energy to reach the three displayed landing sites.

The upgrade also enhances software governing the External Tank separation during the unlikely event of a Return to Launch site (RTLS) abort landing. This improvement will enable a faster increase in the distance between the Orbiter and the ET immediately following separation, reducing the chance of contact to near zero.