New space shuttle launch on Tuesday from NASA

Countdown clocks at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida began ticking on Saturday toward Tuesday's launch of space shuttle Endeavour. The seven-man Endeavour crew arrived at the Florida spaceport early on Saturday. The crew includes two veteran NASA astronauts: commander Dominic Gorie and lead spacewalker Richard Linnehan; rookies Greg Johnson, Michael Foreman, Robert Behnken and Garrett Reisman; and Japan's Takao Doi.

The shuttle is scheduled to spend 16 days in orbit, NASA's longest planned mission to the space station so far. During their 12 days at the station, Endeavour's astronauts plan to conduct five spacewalks to install the first part of Japan's Kibo complex and set up a robot to help with station maintenance and other tasks.