The last shuttle blasts off8230; into history

After days of gloomy forecasts full of rain and heavy cloud cover,the spaceship lifted off at 11:29 am local time just 2-1/2 minutes late thundering away on the 135th shuttle mission 30 years and three months after the very first flight. The four experienced space fliers rode Atlantis from the same pad used more than a generation ago by the Apollo astronauts.

NASA waived its own weather rules to allow the liftoff to go forward. In the end,though,the countdown was delayed not by the weather but by the need to verify that launch pad support equipment was retracted all the way.

The crew will deliver a years worth of critical supplies to the International Space Station. Atlantis is scheduled to come home on July 20 after 12 days in orbit.

Good luck to you and your crew on the final flight of this true American icon. Good luck,god speed and have a little fun up there, shuttle launch director MikeLeinbach told the crew just before launch.

Before the flight,Commander Christopher Ferguson saluted those who contributed to the shuttle programme. The shuttle ias always going to be a reflection of what a great nation can do when it dares to be bold and commits to follow through, he said. Were not ending the journey today 8230; were completing a chapter of a journey that will never end.

The Kennedy Space Center itself was packed with shuttle workers,astronauts and 45,000 invited guests. NASAs original shuttle pilot,Robert Crippen,now 73,was among the VIPs. He flew Columbia on the inaugural test flight in 1981.