Atlantis blasts off after lengthy delay

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After two months of delay, shuttle Atlantis blasted into orbit Thursday with Europe's gift to the international space station, a $2 billion science lab named Columbus that spent years waiting to set sail.

Atlantis and its seven-man crew safely roared away from their seaside launch pad at 2:45 p.m., overcoming fuel gauge problems that thwarted back-to-back launch attempts in December.

The same cold front that spawned killer tornadoes across the South earlier in the week stayed far enough away and, in the end, cut NASA a break. All week, bad weather had threatened to delay the flight, making liftoff all the sweeter for the shuttle team. The sky was cloudy at launch time, but rain and thunderstorms remained off to the west.

"Three, two, one, zero, and liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis as Columbus sets sail on a voyage of science to the space station," NASA's Launch Control exclaimed.

Probably no one was happier than the 300 Europeans who gathered at the launch site to see Atlantis take off with their beloved Columbus lab. They celebrated with Belgian and French chocolates and sparkling grape juice, in keeping with NASA's no-alcohol rule at the Kennedy Space Center.

"It's not very European," observed Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, smiling, as he popped open bottles of juice and filled plastic wine glasses. He flew on the last shuttle mission.

Twenty-three years in the making, Columbus is the European Space Agency's primary contribution to the space station.

The lab has endured space station redesigns and slowdowns, as well as a number of shuttle launch postponements and two shuttle accidents.

"We're all as excited as heck," said an emotional Alan Thirkettle, Europe's space station program manager. "I've lost about 500 grams [about 1 pound] so far, and that's just been tears."

Columbus will join the U.S. lab, Destiny, which was launched aboard Atlantis exactly seven years ago. The much bigger Japanese lab Kibo, or Hope, will require three shuttle flights to get off the ground, beginning in March.

Atlantis' commander, Stephen Frick, and his U.S., German and French crew will reach the space station Saturday and begin installing Columbus the next day. Three spacewalks are planned during the flight, scheduled to last 11 or, more likely, 12 days.

"Certainly, no launch can be any more momentous than the launch of Columbus, which brings to the space station truly international capability and participation," said NASA administrator Michael Griffin.