Night Launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour
			
		
		
			Credit: 
NASA
		
		
			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.