NASA's Bermuda station was on full alert yesterday morning when the US shuttle Endeavour thundered into space on a ten-day environmental mission.

Monitors at the Cooper's Island station tracked the crucial first eight minutes after blast-off at the Kennedy Space Centre before the shuttle reached orbit.

Meanwhile, US Navy forces remained on standby as early engine failure could have meant an emergency landing in Bermuda.

"We act as a support system,'' said station director, Mr. Steven Stompf. "US Navy planes, medical and fire equipment are on hand for all launches from the east coast,'' he said.

Mr. Stompf said it was likely NASA's Bermuda station will remain open in spite of the imminent closure of the US Naval Base because of Bermuda's unique strategic position.

But he said he did not know who would take over responsibility for rescue operations.

An attempt to launch the Endeavour last month was aborted only moments before blast-off when its engines died.

The radar receivers at the Bermuda station will also be receiving data "dumped'' via satellite from the orbiting space vessel.

The seventh flight of the Endeavour and the 64th flight of the Space Shuttle System will follow up an almost identical orbital journey in April, with the addition of an experiment in earthquake forecasting.

Information gleaned by the Endeavour 's six man crew working in the $384 million space radar laboratory will provide clues on what is causing changes in the earth's global environment.

A team of scientists from 13 countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Japan will then try to determine to what extent the changes have been caused by man.

The astronauts will use advanced US, German and Italian radar equipment to penetrate clouds, vegetation, ice and sand so that scientists can explore parts of the earth's surface inaccessible until now.

One experiment to determine whether radar can detect oil spills from space involves the dumping of more than 100 gallons of diesel oil into the North Sea. If successful, the radar could be attached permanently to a satellite for the fast detection of spills.

The radar, which can penetrate dry sand by up to 13 feet, will also be used to search for ancient mud walls buried beneath the sand of the Taklamakan Desert in north west China.

Three-dimensional maps of some 20 key "supersites'' will be made to detect any seasonal changes since the April flight.

The crew is expected to take 14,000 pictures and hundreds of video tapes of radar images of the planet.

These will afford scientists an opportunity to examine the habitat of endangered pandas in China and inspect stagnant pools in areas of malarial outbreaks. They will also monitor the recovery of the Chernobyl area since the 1986 nuclear disaster.

The project known as "Planet Earth,'' will provide information on the flooding of the Amazon basin, deforestation in Brazil and geological features in areas such as Death Valley in California.

And an experiment to measure the global levels of carbon monoxide in the lower atmosphere will help in assessing the "greenhouse effect.'' Data on volcanoes, forest, oceans and rivers will also be fed to scientists via satellite.

A member of the crew, Mr. Steven Smith is the 200th American in space. The Endeavour is commanded by Mr. Michael Baker.

The launch came ten days after the return of sister spaceship Discovery from a scientific mission.

Yesterday's flight marked the first time since 1991 NASA has made its target of eight shuttle launches in a fiscal year.

But recent cuts mean the programme's budget has been reduced to less than $3.5 billion in five years. And Congress is expected to make a further five percent cut in NASA's budget next year.

UP AND AWAY -- The US space shuttle Endeavour successfully lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre at 8:16 a.m. yesterday on its seventh journey into space.