The space shuttle Endeavour, carrying seven astronauts, lit up the night sky at the Kennedy Space Centre as it soared aloft on a column of flame and smoke, settling safely into Earth’s orbit about 8 1/2min after launch.

Endeavour is carrying about 32,000lb (14,520kg) of equipment to the space station including two new sleeping chambers, a second toilet, a refrigerator, exercise gear, and a new water purification system needed to expand the station’s crew to six members from three next year. This $250 million water recycling system will enable the crew members to purify their urine and other wastewater for drinking.

“We did blind taste tests of the water,” said NASA’s Bob Bagdigian, the system’s lead engineer. "Nobody had any strong objections. Other than a faint taste of iodine, it is just as refreshing as any other kind of water.”

NASA expects to process about 6 gallons (23 litre) of water per day with the new device. The goal is to recover about 92 per cent of the water from the crew’s urine and moisture in the air. The wastewater is processed using an extensive series of purification techniques, including distillation, filtration, oxidation, ionization, and the addition of iodine to control microbial growth.