US shuttle Endeavour takes off for mission to Mir

The US space shuttle Endeavour, with seven astronauts on board, has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for a nine-day mission to the Russian space station, Mir.

One of the men, Andy Thomas, will be the last of of a series of American astronauts to spend time on the space station when the shuttle docks in two days' time.

He takes over from Dave Wolf, who's been on Mir since last September.

The Endeavour is also carrying supplies for the ageing space station, including a new air conditioning system and a computer.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service