Posted
6/08/2007 11:05:00 PM
by Douglas
Finally!
After three months of hail damage, the penguin finally got airborne.
A patched-up Atlantis blasted off with seven astronauts Friday on the first space shuttle flight of 2007, putting NASA back on track after a run of bad luck and scandal that included a damaging hailstorm and a lurid love triangle.
Its big orange fuel tank covered with white blotches where the foam insulation had been repaired, the spaceship rose from its seaside launch pad with a roar and climbed into a clear and still-brightly lit sky at 7:38 p.m. EDT, setting a course for the international space station.
"See you in a couple weeks," Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow said shortly before lifting off.
Let's do this thing!
Labels: STS-117