Minnesota native launched into space
Space shuttle Endeavour and a Minnesota astronaut blasted into the night sky Friday.
St. Paul native Heidi Stefanyshyn-Piper and six others are bound for the international space station.
The shuttle launched at 6:55 p.m. CST, right on time, in a brilliant flash of light.
Stefanyshyn-Piper will be the lead spacewalker for the job of repairing a rotary joint that allows solar panels on the international space station to track the sun. She'll go on three of the four scheduled spacewalks.
Stefanyshn-Piper is a graduate of Derham Hall high school and is making her second shuttle flight.
She says she hopes to get a photo of St. Paul from space.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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