Atlantis blasts off

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A patched-up Atlantis blasted off with seven astronauts yesterday on the first space shuttle flight of 2007, after a months-long run of bad luck that included a damaging hailstorm.

Its big orange fuel tank covered with white blotches where the foam insulation had been repaired, the shuttle rose from its seaside launchpad with a roar and climbed into a clear and still brightly lit sky at 7:38 p.m., achieving orbit 10 minutes later and setting a course for the International Space Station.

During the 11-day mission, Atlantis' astronauts will deliver a new segment and a pair of solar panels to the orbiting outpost. They also will swap out a member of the space station's crew.

The launch came after a near-flawless countdown. One of the few problems as the clocks ticked down was a loose pipe clamp on the launch platform. Technicians considered trying to screw it down but decided it was safe to leave it alone.

The mission had been delayed for three months after a freak storm at the launchpad hurled golf-ball-size hail at Atlantis' 154-foot fuel tank, putting thousands of pockmarks in its vital insulating foam and one of the orbiter's wings.

The last NASA shuttle launch took place in December.

After the hailstorm, Atlantis was rolled back to the hangar, and the space agency decided to sand down and patch the gouge marks with foam rather than swap out the entire tank.

The foam has been of paramount concern to NASA ever since the Columbia disaster in 2003, when a chunk of the insulating material broke off during liftoff and gashed a wing, allowing fiery gases to penetrate the shuttle during its return to Earth. All seven astronauts aboard were killed.

Although the top of the tank yesterday looked like a beat-up old car that had undergone bodywork in someone's garage, officials said it was safe.

"We have done extensive tests and analysis," said LeRoy Cain, launch integration manager.

The hailstorm forced NASA to reduce the number of shuttle missions in 2007 from five to four.

The space agency hopes to fly at least 12 construction missions besides this one to the space station, and also plans to send a crew to repair the Hubble Space Telescope before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.

Atlantis' crew is led by commander Rick Sturckow. The other members are pilot Lee Archambault and mission specialists Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson, Danny Olivas, James Reilly and Clayton Anderson. It is the first all-male crew at launch since 2002.

Anderson will replace Sunita Williams as the U.S. representative at the space station, and Williams will return home on Atlantis after six months in orbit.

Learn more on the mission as well as updates

at NASA's Web site via http://go.philly.com/nasaEndText