Stock Photo - 12/04/1998 __ The Space Shuttle Endeavour lights up the night sky as it embarks on the first U.S. mission, STS_88, dedicated to the assembly of the International Space Station. Liftoff on Dec. 4 from Launch Pad 39A was at 3:35:34 a.m. EST. During the nearly 12_day mission, the six_member crew will mate in space the first two elements of the International Space Station the already_orbiting Zarya control module with the Unity connecting module carried by Endeavour. Crew members are Commander Robert D. Cabana, Pilot Frederick W. Rick Sturckow, and Mission Specialists Nancy J. Currie, Jerry L. Ross, James H. Newman and Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut. This was the second launch attempt for STS_88. The first one on Dec. 3 was scrubbed when launch controllers, following an assessment of a suspect hydraulic system, were unable to resume the countdown clock in time to launch within the remaining launch window