Atlantis is on its way to Hubble

In a bright, loud and visibly perfect launch, space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 2:01 p.m. EDT (20:01 CEST). The seven astronauts of STS-125 are headed for their rendezvous with Hubble Space Telescope.

Over an 11-day mission, veteran astronauts Scott Altman, Gregory C. Johnson, John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino and rookies Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones and perform the component replacements that will keep the telescope functioning into at least 2014.

Atlantis also will carry a replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit for Hubble. Astronauts will install the unit on the telescope, removing the one that stopped working on Sept. 27, 2008, delaying the servicing mission until the replacement was ready.