Night Time Shuttle Launch

NASA has begun fueling space shuttle Endeavour for its early morning launch.

Officials have not reported any major problems, keeping the shuttle on track to blast off at 1:28 a.m.

The 16-day mission includes the longest ever shuttle visit to the international space station. And five spacewalks are planned during Endeavour's flight -- the most ever conducted by the crew of a visiting shuttle.

Endeavour and its seven-member crew will be delivering the first installment of Japan's Kibo space lab.

The Japanese Space Agency's station program manager says the people of Japan have been waiting for a very long, long time to see this come to fruition. Preliminary design work for Kibo began in 1990.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)