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Heaters Help Shuttle Endeavour Lift Off in Florida Chill

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<i> From Associated Press</i>

Warmed by heaters to keep its O-rings supple, space shuttle Endeavour lifted off with six astronauts Thursday in the coldest launch weather since the Challenger disaster and began chasing a science satellite.

The astronauts, five Americans and one Japanese, plan to capture the Japanese satellite Saturday. It will be their chief job in orbit during the nine-day flight.

Endeavour began the 300-mile-high chase with a brilliant early morning launch. It was 44 degrees for the 4:41 a.m. EST liftoff, the lowest temperature at launch since a rocket carrying Challenger exploded on Jan. 28, 1986, and the second-lowest ever during a shuttle launch. The timing was dictated by the course the shuttle must follow to catch the satellite.

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The temperature was 36 when Challenger was destroyed after launch, killing all seven crew members. Investigators said the cold had stiffened the O-rings in the shuttle’s booster rockets, allowing hot gas to leak through a joint.

The heaters are one of the improvements made after the accident.

Halfway around the world, a cheering crowd of more than 1,000 gathered in a plaza in Omiya near Tokyo, astronaut Koichi Wakata’s hometown. They watched the launch on a huge screen, shouting “Banzai!” three times.

Wakata will use the shuttle robot arm to retrieve the satellite, which was launched from Japan last March.

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The 4-ton reusable satellite holds fertilized newt eggs and two adult newts that were allowed to die after they spawned in orbit. The eggs will be studied as a possible protein source on spaceflights.

Two spacewalks are scheduled to practice for space station construction.

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