Countdown Begins for Endeavour’s High-Tech Mission to Space Station

The countdown began Monday for the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on a critical space station mission involving high-tech robotics.

Endeavour is scheduled to lift off Thursday afternoon, carrying a 57-foot, 9-inch robotic arm for the international space station that will be used as a construction crane.

The seven astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center several hours before the countdown clocks began ticking. It is the most internationally diverse crew ever assembled by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: four Americans, one Russian, one Canadian and one Italian.

The major objective of the 11-day mission is the installation of the space station’s new robotic arm. Two spacewalks will be required to make all the connections.

In preparation for Endeavour’s arrival, the three residents of the space station undocked a Russian supply ship Monday. The ship was loaded with trash, and it burned up upon entering the atmosphere.

Station commander Yuri Usachev and his U.S. crew mates, Jim Voss and Susan Helms, have been living aboard space station Alpha since mid-March.

The shuttle is bringing them a two-month supply of food, spare parts for a broken treadmill and computer pieces. There also are a few treats, such as Canadian salmon and musk ox jerky and Italian Parmesan cheese.