shuttle for what was thought to be the last time last night.

Space experts at the Cooper's Island station are due to leave Bermuda by the end of September.

But executives at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Houston were to use Bermuda for a crucial five-and-a-half minute spell during last night's launch.

The Endeavour, which will link up with the Russian space station Mir, will be in orbit for 14 days.

And the scientists were to use their two tracking radars to send data back to Houston on the shuttle's precise location.

Only one of Bermuda's two tracking radars was used to follow the Columbia during the last shuttle mission in November.

The data sent back to Houston from Bermuda was only treated as a back-up with most on-board information being relayed to the satellite.

But NASA station manager Bill Way said Bermuda was being brought back into the main communications link for what could be the final time last night.

The Cooper's Island experts expected to track the Endeavour from six minutes into the flight until 11-and-a-half minutes after launch.

Before the launch, Mr. Way said: "There's quite a lot of excitement about this mission because it could well be the last time we're called on to monitor the space shuttle from the front line.

"The next launch in April will see the shuttle fly directly over Bermuda so it's possible we could be involved in that although we don't know yet.

`This time we will be doing almost exactly the same things as we have been doing during space shuttle missions for the past 16 years.'' NASA have instructed shuttle pilots to make the space-craft do a 180-degree roll on every mission from now on, to engage the tracking relay satellite.