Atlantis Takes Off

After being plagued with delay of over two weeks, Atlantis finally took off from its seaside launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:15 a.m. (1515 GMT) on Saturday. Carrying Six astronauts, Atlantis zoomed at 17,000 mph (27,360 kph) and within nine minutes reached the orbit 140 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Launch director Mike Leinbach wished the crew luck, “It looks like your long wait is over…We wish you all the best luck in the world, Godspeed and we'll see you back here in about two weeks."

Delayed for over two weeks due to weather and technical hitches, the space shuttle roared off to resume its space mission. The mission eyes at recommencing the work of the $100-billion orbital complex by the installation of the $372-million solar power module as its main objective.

The launch came as a huge relief for the officials as Saturday was the last day of the launch window. Had NASA failed to ground off the shuttle on Saturday, the next attempt would not have been possible until late October as the Russian Soyuz capsule is scheduled for liftoff on September 18 on a flight to the International Space Station.

The 11 day mission resumes the construction of the International Space Station which came to a standstill after shuttle Columbia fell into pieces in February 2003. The astronauts on Atlantis board have a tight schedule in which they will make three spacewalks.

Steve MacLean, a laser physicist known to the crew as "the professor" has a special and significant role to play. MacLean will maneuver the 16,000-kilogram, school-bus sized module to within a three-inch tolerance for clasping clamps on the ISS to take hold of it. Moreover he will take a 6½ hours spacewalk to install a rotary joint so the solar panels can pivot toward the sun.

NASA plans 14 more flights in addition to the Atlantis mission to complete the ISS before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. Thereafter it plans to fly on the moon and Mars.