Atlantis is Away

Engines fire up!


We have liftoff!


Climb!


Put the spurs to her, boys!


Getting every bit of thrust out of those engines before...


Single Rocket Booster separation begins.


The rockets fall back to earth. And we thank you for the ride up.


The curvature of the earth is now visible.


As if a new bright star entered the sky. Beautiful!


And what's this? The discovery of a new life form on the outer skin of the shuttle? Well, not quite. Granted, this is not a NASA launch image, but I was following the launch over Saturday breakfast. After all, I can safely say, I'm probably the only person in the world watching Atlantis leave the earth while eating fermented bean "natto".
At least let's hope so.
Godspeed Atlantis.

UPDATE:
click on natto image at your own risk. That stuff is pretty awful up close. If you ask me, NASA should bring a few tubs up next time. It would do nicely as tile glue or for filling in cracks!