Endeavour lifts off

The space shuttle Endeavour thundered away from Cape Canaveral in Florida last night, carrying seven astronauts on a mission to install a massive billion-dollar robot arm on the international space station.

‘‘Good luck and have fun on the international space station,’’ launch director Mike Leinbach told the astronauts just before liftoff.

It was a fine day for flying, and not just because of the good weather. Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the launch of the world’s first space station, the Soviet Union’s Salyut 1.

The difference, between then and now, was especially striking given the composition of Endeavour’s crew. The astronauts come from four countries, making this the most internationally diverse space crew ever.

‘‘Ciao, Italia!’’ Italian astronaut Umberto Guidoni shouted to wellwishers on his way to the shuttle. Canada, Russia and the United States were also represented among the crew.

About 20,000 guests from around the world jammed into Kennedy Space Centre for the launch.

The space station was soaring over the Indian Ocean, near the Maldives, when Endeavour bolted off its launch pad. The shuttle will catch up with the station on Saturday.

It will be the most complicated robotics mission yet attempted in space: The shuttle’s own 50ft robot arm will be used to hook up the even bigger and fancier space station arm. The work will require two crews - one in the shuttle and one in the station - and at least two spacewalks.

The grand finale will be when the two jointed arms exchange a packing crate.

With a hand on each end, the 58ft robot arm is capable of moving across the space station, like an inchworm.

‘‘It’s a monstrous self-propelled vehicle of its own,’’ said Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut who will unfold his country’s space station contribution once it’s attached.

The robot arm is so long and so massive - more than 3,600lb - that it had to be double-folded and held in place aboard Endeavour with 4ft bolts.

Four of the astronauts are trained to operate Endeavour’s robot arm, which will be used not only for installing the station arm but for attaching an Italian-built cargo carrier named Raffaello during the 11-day mission.

The space station arm is crucial for the assembly of the 240-mile-high outpost, named Alpha. Without it, a pressure chamber for spacewalking astronauts cannot be installed in June and solar panels cannot be attached in 2002 and beyond.

Just as crucial - although not for a while - is the space station habitation module. It was announced today that Italy has agreed to supply the module, bailing out Nasa, which cannot afford to build it because of steep budget overruns.

The space station is limited to three residents until the habitation module is added in 2006. The size of the crew will then expand to as many as seven.

Endeavour’s astronauts will be the first visitors for the three latest space station residents, who moved in last month.

Soon after Endeavour leaves, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft will pull up with more guests. On board will be two Russian cosmonauts and, presumably, Dennis Tito, a California millionaire who is paying Russia up to dlrs 20m (£14.3m) for six days aboard Alpha as the world’s first space tourist.

Nasa does not want Tito there, saying he could interfere with space station work and endanger himself and the crew.

Endeavour is due back on Earth on April 30.