And yet, the truly remarkable fact that man is once again orbiting his home planet plays second fiddle to the pathetic saga of a pathetic woman.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) — Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Kennedy Space Center Friday evening on an 11-day mission to the international space station.
“And liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis to assemble the framework for the science laboratories of tomorrow,” said NASA spokesman George Diller as the orbiter raced to space.
The mission was originally scheduled for mid-March but a hailstorm damaged the shuttle’s fuel tank and the launch was pushed back to June to allow time for needed repairs.
In command of this mission is Rick Sturckow.
Along with Sturckow are pilot Lee Archambault, mission specialists Patrick Forrester, James Reilly, Steven Swanson, John Olivas and flight engineer Clayton Anderson.
Anderson will replace Sunita Williams on the international space station and Williams will return to Earth aboard Atlantis.
Atlantis is carrying a metal cargo tag from historic Jamestown, Virginia. The tag is almost 400 years old and reads “Yames Towne.” Its space voyage is meant to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown settlement in 1607.
Personally, I like this:
Much, much better than this:
