Space shuttle Atlantis in historic final lift-off
The 135th and final space shuttle mission has lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Space shuttle Atlantis launched into history at 1129 local time (1529 GMT; 1629 BST) on Friday.
The 12-day mission will ferry 3.5 tonnes of supplies to the International Space Station.
Upon its return, the 30-year space shuttle programme will come to finished, with Atlantis and the other two shuttles retired to museums.
The weather on Thursday thrown torrential rain at the orbiter, and forecasters had been talking grimly of similar conditions developing on Friday.
Launch director Mike Leinbach told the Atlantis crew - Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim - to "have a little fun up there" with "a true American icon".
Leinbach's call prompted a huge cheer from the thousands of guests inside the Kennedy Space Center and a rush to grab the best viewing positions.
Many lined the tops of buildings around KSC; others went down by the famous countdown clock on the lawn in front of the press complex.
No comments:
Post a Comment