Nasa successfully launches space shuttle Endeavour

The space shuttle Endeavour has successfully taken off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Nasa confirmed that around two minutes into flight, the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters propelling Endeavour into space separated and fell away; and the shuttle and its crew have now safely attained low-Earth orbit.

The launch, scheduled for yesterday, was originally delayed due to heavy cloud cover.

The shuttle Endeavour and its crew will deliver to the international space station a third connecting module, the Italian-built Tranquility node and the seven-windowed Cupola, which will be used as a control room for robotics.

The 13-day mission, led by commander George Zamka, will feature three spacewalks.

The mission marks the important involvement of the European Space Agency (Esa) in the space project, with Endeavour holding two sophisticated modules, Node-3 ('Tranquility') and Cupola, from Europe.

Their installation will "pave the way to completion of the ISS, with more than a third of the pressurised station elements designed, developed and built in Europe", Esa said.

Nasa's latest space mission will see the crew on the ISS delivered a large 'bay window'.

"It gives us a much needed addition to the house, so to speak," said Bob Dempsey, lead space station flight director for the mission.

"We're getting to the point where we're really cramped for space. You might be surprised at that, considering we're essentially the volume of a 747 and we've been adding modules for the last couple of years. You might think we'd be sitting around in a big empty house. But no – every inch is really getting packed up there."

The shuttle's mission is the first since US president Barack Obama announced new plans for the country's space exploration, putting plans to return to the moon on hold.