A day after the first launch attempt on Sunday was called off due clouds over the launching pad, NASA’s space shuttle Endeavor finally took off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 4:14 a. m. on Monday.

On a 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Endeavor – marking one of the last major ISS assembly flights – will essentially deliver at the ISS a connecting node and a 23-foot-long, 15-foot-wide Tranquility module, or Node 3.

The new module comprises a seven-windowed dome (cupola) and a circular top window of about 80cm, making it the largest window ever built for space.

Noting that Node 3 offers picturesque views of the space and the Earth and space, European Space Agency’s project manager Philippe Deloo said: “The psychological effect of being able to look outside, to look at the Mother Earth, is something that has long been put forward as an argument to have windows on the station.”

The module will be installed by two crew-members aboard Endeavour, Nicholas J. M. Patrick and Air Force Lt. Col. Robert L. Behnken, who will undertake three spacewalks to accomplish the mission.

The other members of the Endeavor crew include Mission Commander Marine Col. George D. Zamka; pilot Air Force Col. Terry W. Virts Jr.; Navy Reserve Capt. Kathryn P. Hire; and Stephen K. Robinson.