Washington  - Space shuttle Endeavour lifted off late Friday from Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida for a construction mission to the International Space Station.

The shuttle and its seven-member crew blasted off at 7:55 pm (0055 GMT Saturday) for a 15-day flight that is to include four spacewalks to service joints on the station's solar panels and to prepare the ISS for expansion.

The Endeavour will deliver 6,538 kilograms of supplies and equipment to upgrade the space station's living space and prepare it for more residents on longer-term assignments, after the retirement in 2010 of the US fleet of aging reusable orbiters.

The payload will be delivered in the reusable, Italian-built Leonardo module that will be transferred to the ISS using the shuttle's robotic arm. Astronauts will later fill it with old equipment and scientific samples and bring it back to Earth aboard Endeavour.

The delivery includes an exercise machine, a second toilet, two sleep stations and a water recycling pump to turn urine into drinking water. New kitchen equipment will also be part of the delivery with the addition of two new food warmers and a refrigerator. (dpa)