Columbus Sails on Atlantis

NASA

At last, the Shuttle Atlantis lifted off into space today carrying the European Columbus laboratory module to the International Space Station.

Running two months late, the repaired shuttle Atlantis thundered safely into orbit today after expected storms from a weakening cold front failed to materialize. The low-level hydrogen fuel sensor circuits that derailed two launch tries in December worked normally today, clearing the way for launch of Atlantis and a European Space Agency research module bound for the international space station.