The US space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from its Florida home port this evening on a mission to deliver Europe's first permanent space laboratory to the International Space Station.
Clouds and rain near the Kennedy Space Center that had threatened to delay the launch held off long enough for the shuttle to roar off its seaside launch pad at 7.45pm. The spacecraft settled into Earth's orbit eight minutes later.
The launch finally put Europe's $1.9 billion Columbus laboratory into orbit after postponements dating back to 2002 - first because of Russian delays in launching the space station's service module and then by the destruction of shuttle Columbia in 2003, which grounded the US shuttle fleet.
Atlantis' mission was twice delayed in December by technical problems with an emergency engine cutoff system.
Twenty-three feet long and nearly 15 feet in diameter, the cylindrical Columbus lab has room for three crew members to work on experiments. It was launched with a biolab for cell and tissue studies and an experiment to study the effects of weightlessness on the human body.
The European Space Agency is counting on Columbus' successful deployment and the March 8th launch of a cargo ship to proceed with future space programs, including participation in NASA's plan to return humans to the surface of the moon.