NewsBoy
09-09-2006, 02:45 PM
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis and its six astronauts blasted off Saturday into space to rendezvous with the orbiting International Space Station and install new equipment.
After two weeks of frustrating delays, the shuttle rose from its seaside launch pad through a partly cloudy sky at 11:15 a.m. ET.
"By our count, it has been almost four years, two return to flight missions, a tremendous amount of work by thousands of individuals," said Brent Jett, Atlantis' commander. (Watch as Atlantis thunders into space and see Earth from a shuttle's-eye view -- 1:47)
Debris seen hitting the shuttle during liftoff was not a significant problem and the fuel cells were working properly, without the problems that had dogged earlier launch attempts.
More at link... (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/09/09/space.shuttle.ap/index.html)
After two weeks of frustrating delays, the shuttle rose from its seaside launch pad through a partly cloudy sky at 11:15 a.m. ET.
"By our count, it has been almost four years, two return to flight missions, a tremendous amount of work by thousands of individuals," said Brent Jett, Atlantis' commander. (Watch as Atlantis thunders into space and see Earth from a shuttle's-eye view -- 1:47)
Debris seen hitting the shuttle during liftoff was not a significant problem and the fuel cells were working properly, without the problems that had dogged earlier launch attempts.
More at link... (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/09/09/space.shuttle.ap/index.html)