Space Shuttle Project

A smooth countdown culminated in a picture-perfect launch as the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-47) climbed skyward atop a ladder of billowing smoke. Primary payload for the plarned seven-day flight was Spacelab-J science laboratory. The second flight of Endeavour marks a number of historic firsts: the first space flight of an African-American woman, the first Japanese citizen to fly on a Space Shuttle, and the first married couple to fly in space.