Space shuttle lifts off from Florida

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from its seaside Florida launch pad on Thursday to deliver a $1.9 billion European science laboratory to the International Space Station.

Defying a dismal weather forecast, Atlantis lifted off at 2:45 p.m. and headed toward a Saturday rendezvous with the station. Tucked into the cargo bay was the European Space Agency's Columbus module, the centerpiece of a $5 billion program to give Europe a permanent toehold in space.

"Liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis, as Columbus sets sail on a voyage of science to the space station," said NASA commentator George Diller as the ship rose into the sky, trailing a tail of bright flame.

For more than 25 years, European researchers have relied on the hospitality of others to operate experiments in orbit. With Columbus, Europe will have a permanent space lab for a variety of biology, physiology, fluid physics and other experiments.

"Columbus means so much to Europe," said Alan Thirkettle, ESA's space station program manager. "We finally will have our own real estate on orbit."

Installing Columbus, named after the 15th-century Italian explorer, is the primary goal of NASA's 121st space shuttle mission.

"Columbus has discovered a new world, and I think that with Columbus we are discovering a totally new world," Jean Jacques Dordain, ESA's director general, said after the launch.

Atlantis' seven-member crew includes two Europeans, both returning to space after debut flights in the previous decade. Germany's Hans Schlegel is a veteran of a 1993 shuttle research mission, and France's Leopold Eyharts spent three weeks aboard Russia's defunct Mir space station in 1998.

Eyharts will be staying aboard the space station after the shuttle departs to begin running science experiments in Columbus. He replaces Dan Tani, an American flight engineer who will fly home with Schlegel and the five U.S. astronauts aboard Atlantis.

WAITING SINCE 2002

Columbus is the heart of an ESA investment that is expected to reach about $13 billion by 2015. In addition to the module, Europe developed cargo ships to ferry fuel, supplies, food and water to the outpost. The first of five flights of the so-called Automated Transfer Vehicles is expected in March.

"We will be a more mature, a senior partner," Schlegel said in a preflight interview.

Europe hopes for some direct spin-offs from its investments in terms of medical and technological advances to benefit the taxpayers who paid for the program, Thirkettle said.

The research initiatives include biological studies, materials development and fluid physics. Columbus can hold 10 refrigerator-sized experiment racks within its 23-foot- (7-metre)long, 15-foot (4.5-metre) diameter chamber.

Columbus has room enough for three crew members to work on experiments and was launched with a biolab for cell and tissue studies and an experiment to study the effect of weightlessness on the human body.

ESA has been waiting for the delivery of Columbus since 2002. It was first postponed by delays launching the space station's service module, then by the 2003 destruction of space shuttle Columbia, which grounded the fleet for 2-1/2 years.

NASA fixed the problem that led to Columbia's demise -- falling foam insulation from the shuttle's fuel tank -- but continues to keep a close watch for any reoccurrence. Initial examination of pictures of Atlantis' launch showed three pieces of foam falling during ascent but none appeared to be a concern, said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's spaceflight chief.

Also flying on Atlantis are five U.S. astronauts: commander Stephen Frick, pilot Alan Poindexter and mission specialists Rex Walheim, Stanley Love and Leland Melvin.

NASA plans to quickly follow Columbus' launch with the first flight for Japan's Kibo complex.

The agency has 13 remaining missions on the shuttle's roster before the fleet is retired in 2010. In addition to 12 space station construction and resupply flights, NASA plans a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

(Editing by Jim Loney and Eric Beech)