US Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted into space at 0628 GMT Tuesday, carrying Japan's first space lab to the International Space Station.
Two minutes after launch Endeavour jettisoned its twin solid rocket boosters as it soared far above the Kennedy Space Center.
The shuttle crew of seven, including Japanese astronaut Takao Doi, is on a 16-day mission to install the first stage of the Japanese laboratory Kibo, a micro-gravity research facility.
NASA astronaut Dominic Gorie commands a crew of six, including Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Robert L. Behnken, Mike Foreman, Garrett Reisman and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi. Johnson, Behnken and Foreman will be making their first spaceflight.
During the 16-day mission, the crew's two prime objectives are to deliver and attach to the International Space Station the first component of Japan's new laboratory called Kibo, as well as Canada's new robotics system, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre. STS-123 is the 25th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Leopold Eyharts, who arrived at the station aboard Atlantis in February, will return to Earth with the Endeavour crew as Reisman takes his place on the station.
