The space shuttle Atlantis, with seven crew members aboard, lifted off at 7:38 p.m. EDT (2338 GMT) Friday from its seaside launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the United States. (Xinhua Photo/Hou Jun)
WASHINGTON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- After a three-month delay, Atlantis finally blasted off Friday on NASA's first space shuttle mission of the year, continuing the construction of the International Space Station.
The shuttle lifted off at 7:38 p.m. EDT (2338 GMT)
Friday from its seaside launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is
the first launch from that launch pad in over four years.
Cheers and shouts can be heard throughout the KSC as
Atlantis roars off the launch pad into a clear blue Florida sky, according to
NASA TV.
Launch Director Mike Leinbach wished the Atlantis
crew members "good luck and Godspeed." Within 10 minutes after liftoff,
Atlantis' solid rocket boosters successfully separated and has fallen away from
the orbiter, then main engine cut off followed by jettison of the external tank.
Now, Atlantis has reached orbit and Commander
Frederick Sturckow has confirmed a good separation, according to NASA's
real-time launch blog. By flight day 3, Atlantis will be ready to dock with ISS.
This is the 21st shuttle mission to ISS, with seven
astronauts aboard -- all American men. During the 11-day mission, the crew will
install a 17.5-ton new truss segment, unfurl new solar arrays and fold up an old
one in three planned space walks.
NASA describes the Atlantis mission, coded STS-117,
as "just do it -- again". "If you missed either of the last two missions, now
would be the time to catch up," said NASA's space shuttle program.
With two successful assembly missions leading the
way, those involved with this flight are hoping it will be the best yet.
"We're really fortunate that we have those guys to
follow," Atlantis' commander, Frederick Sturckow, said. "Almost everything went
great on those missions, and the things that didn't go so well, we're able to
learn from."
Along with Sturckow, the crew includes Pilot Lee
Archambault and mission specialists Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson, John
Olivas, James Reilly and Clay Anderson, who will remain on the station to begin
a long-duration flight.
Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, who
has been aboard the station since December 2006, will return home on Atlantis.
Atlantis was originally scheduled to launch in
mid-March, but a freak hail storm damaged the shuttle's massive external fuel
tank as the orbiter stood on the launch pad waiting for the launch. NASA was
forced to roll it back to the hanger for repairs, which lasted for more than two
months.
After a very long and arduous spring with the repair
works, the shuttle got back to launch. No technical glitches or unfavorable
weather conditions stopped the Friday show, with Atlantis soaring into the open
sky in Cape Canaveral on Florida's Atlantic coast.
This is the fifth shuttle mission since the Columbia
accident of February 2003, which forced NASA to ground the shuttle fleet for
safety upgrades.
The shuttle returned to space in July 2005 with a
Discovery mission focused on making space flight safer. A second safety mission
in July last year proved successful, paving the way for the resumption of ISS
assembly missions.
Atlantis' construction mission will increase the
station's power capability and prepare the station for the arrival of the new
modules from European and Japanese space agencies.
NASA hopes to fly at least 12 more construction
missions to the space station before the space shuttle fleet is grounded in
2010. The space agency also wants to fly a single mission to repair the Hubble
Space Telescope, which NASA officials said Thursday would be in September
2008.
A photographer installs a remote camera as space
shuttle Atlantis sits on launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral, Florida, June 7, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery
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BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.S. space
shuttle Atlantis is ready to blast off Friday, the first space shuttle mission
of the year.
Atlantis was originally set to launch March 15, but a
freak hail storm damaged the shuttle's massive external fuel tank as the orbiter
stood on its Florida launch pad, forcing NASA to bring it back to its hangar for
repairs. Full story>>>
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The launch countdown
for the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis officially began at 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday (0100
GMT Wednesday), according to NASA TV.
During a morning briefing at the Kennedy Space Center
in Florida, NASA Test Director Steve Payne announced that preparations for the
liftoff, slated for 7:38 p.m. EDT Friday (2338 GMT), are underway and ongoing.
Full story>>>
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