NASA's space shuttle Discovery has launched on a journey to the International Space Station, carrying another section of Japan's Kibo lab and a tool to fix an out-of-order toilet.
Discovery roared into the sky at 5:02 ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, exactly on time, for a perfect ascent into orbit.
Kibo, which means "Hope," is the size of a tour bus and cost $1 billion.
When operational, Kibo will house up to 23 racks of equipment. Experiments in the areas of space medicine, biology, Earth observations, materials production, biotechnology and communications will be conducted inside.
Along with the lab component, Discovery is carrying a much smaller item that's essential for the astronauts living in the space station -- a toilet pump.
The pump is designed specifically for the space station's toilet, which has been out of order for more than a week. Two Russian astronauts currently living on the station have had to flush the toilet with extra water, wasting a valuable resource.
Discovery is also taking a small toy "to infinity and beyond." A Buzz Lightyear action figure, from the computer-animated Disney film "Toy Story," has joined the crew for the ride.
The action figure is part of NASA's "toys in space" educational program for elementary students.
Discovery has a crew of six astronauts, all of them American except for Japanese member Akihiko Hoshide, who has taken his first shuttle ride into space.
The crew is scheduled to perform three spacewalks during the 14-day mission, to install the Kibo component, clean a solar-wing joint and replace a nitrogen-gas tank.
Discovery astronaut Gregory Chamitoff will be staying at the space station for six months, replacing Garrett Reisman, who will return to Earth with the rest of the shuttle's crew.
Among the spectators watching Saturday's launch was Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the wife of Discovery astronaut Commander Mark Kelly.
"It was pretty exciting, pretty exciting," she told The Associated Press, but said she would only be able to relax when her husband was safely back on Earth.
Discovery's launch marked NASA's 10th shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster. There are only 10 more shuttle flights scheduled before the fleet is retired in 2010.
Kibo's parts
This is the second mission hauling up pieces of Kibo. In March, the shuttle Endeavour brought up a storage room. Next year, a closet, porch and the smaller of the two robot arms will be taken up to complete the module.
There are two other labs attached to the space station -- NASA's Destiny and the European Space Agency's Columbus. Kibo is 2.7 metres longer than Destiny and 4.3 metres longer than Columbus.
