US space shuttle Endeavour lifts off

Nov. 15 - U.S. space shuttle Endeavour soared off its seaside launch pad on Friday (November 14) on a mission to upgrade the International Space Station for an expanded six-person crew.

The shuttle carries two new sleeping compartments and a water recycling system so station crew members can purify urine and other waste water for drinking. Endeavour also carries the station's first refrigerator, new exercise gear, and perhaps most important for a growing crew -- a second toilet.

It was NASA's first launch in nearly six months and the 124th in shuttle program history.

Just nine more launches remain before NASA is scheduled to mothball the shuttles so it can develop safer and less expensive spaceships that will return astronauts to the moon.