The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour blasted off from its Florida home port on Tuesday to deliver the first part of a huge Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station.

Soaring on a white pillar of light on a rare night launch, the newest of NASA's three remaining shuttles reached orbit and a top speed of just over 17,000 miles per hour (28,000 km per hour) around eight minutes after liftoff.

Endeavour's crew is scheduled to spend 16 days in orbit -- and 12 days at the space station. That will be the longest visit to the orbital outpost, a $100-billion project that is finally living up to its multinational billing with the addition last month of a European space laboratory and now Japan's.

In addition to a storage module for Japan's double-decker bus-sized Kibo space laboratory, the main part of which will be hoisted to space in late May, Endeavour is carrying a Canadian-built two-armed robotic system, called Dextre.

Endeavour's three main engines burned more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million litres) of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen on the sprint to orbit, assisted by two solid rocket boosters that were jettisoned on the way up.

The roar of liftoff shattered the still of night over the Kennedy Space Center and surrounding marshlands, and briefly turned the dark skies bright as day as Endeavour arced out over the Atlantic Ocean on its way to orbit.