Endeavour to space station - 'We're on our way'

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Endeavour chased after the international space station on Sunday, bringing a relief crew for its three longtime inhabitants.

"We're on our way," said the shuttle's skipper, James Wetherbee.

The 250-mile-high linkup will occur this afternoon.

American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian cosmonauts Valery Korzun and Sergei Treschev have been aboard the space station for almost six months. Their mission was supposed to last 4 1/2 months, but all of the space shuttles were grounded after they moved in because of cracked plumbing. Then, Endeavour ran into other trouble that further delayed liftoff.

The long wait ended Saturday night with an ear-splitting launch. "You really rocked the house with that ascent," Mission Control radioed.

Wetherbee said Sunday that moments after liftoff, the shuttle was pointed toward a nearly full moon and he could see it through the front window of the cockpit. He described the scene as "pretty amazing, giving us a real sense that we were headed toward space as we were headed straight toward the moon."

Wetherbee and his crew gave Endeavour's robot arm a workout as the shuttle drew closer to the station. The job took on added significance because of the damage that workers inflicted two weeks ago during oxygen-leak repairs; they accidentally hit the arm with scaffolding.

Endeavour will spend a full week at the space station and return to earth, with Whitson and her two station crewmates, on Dec. 4.