<p><strong>Crowds gathered at <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html">NASA's Kennedy Space Center</a> early Friday to witness the final launch of the space shuttle <em>Atlantis</em>. The liftoff—which took place slightly behind schedule at about 11:29 a.m. ET—marks the 135th and <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/07/110707-space-shuttle-launch-final-mission/">final space shuttle mission</a>, capping off the 30-year-old U.S. <a href="http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/space-exploration/space-shuttle-program.html">space shuttle</a> program.</strong></p><p><em>Atlantis</em> carried a four-member crew to the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html">International Space Station</a> for a 12-day mission. A stormy weather forecast had threatened to delay the launch, but clouds thinned an hour before the scheduled blastoff.</p><p>"On behalf of the greatest team in the world, good luck to you and your crew on the final flight of an American icon," NASA launch director Mike Leinbach told the crew just before launch.</p><p><em>Atlantis</em>'s commander Chris Ferguson responded: "We're not ending the journey today, we're completing a chapter of a journey that will never end. Let's light this shuttle one more time, Mike, and witness this nation at its best."</p><p><em>—Ker Than</em></p>