The goal of the 11-day mission, in which Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau is due to join the US crew, is to attach the first two giant solar panels designed to provide electricity to the station.

"We are not only building a world-class research and technology development facility," said Tommy Holloway, the manager of the International Space Station Program. "We are also providing a bridge to the future and the exploration of the solar system."

Astronauts will perform as many as three space walks to attach the US-made, 73-meter (240-foot) long panels, which will generate enough electricity to power 15 average earth homes each, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The solar panels are the first of three 600-million-dollar sets of panels to be attached to the station in coming years.

To better manipulate the 17-ton truss segment of panels and their associated electronic paraphernalia, the astronauts will install the panels in a folded position, and allow the panels to automatically open to their full length when they are attached.

Endeavour's astronauts will be welcomed to the ISS by the station's first residents, American William Shepherd and Russians Yuri Guidzenko and Sergei Krikaliov, who have been there since earlier this month.

The five-member Endeavour crew will have something of a "family reunion" when they arrive at the station, though they will spend the majority of their time in space aboard their own ship.

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