Photographers crowd around the countdown clock and flag post near the NASA News Center to capture the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Photographers crowd around the countdown clock and flag post near the NASA News Center to capture the successful on-time launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis from Launch Pad 39A at 7:38:04 p.m. EDT on mission STS-117. The shuttle is delivering a new segment to the starboard side of the International Space Station's backbone, known as the truss. Three spacewalks are planned to install the S3/S4 truss segment, deploy a set of solar arrays and prepare them for operation. STS-117 is the 118th space shuttle flight, the 21st flight to the station, the 28th flight for Atlantis and the first of four flights planned for 2007. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann