FACTBOX: Atlantis on 118th shuttle mission

(Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, which blazed off on Friday on a construction mission to the International Space Station, has some claim to fame as it embarks on NASA's 118th shuttle mission.

-- Atlantis' liftoff marked the first flight from Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A since the ill-fated takeoff of the shuttle Columbia in 2003. During that launch, debris fell from the shuttle's external fuel tank and damaged a heat shield. Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry, killing all seven crew members.

-- Laden with a 35,678-pound (16,183 kg) double truss segment in its cargo bay, Atlantis will be delivering the heaviest payload to date to the space station.

-- The late addition of incoming International Space Station crew member Clayton Anderson, who originally planned to catch a ride with the next shuttle crew, caused a scramble for seating and weight adjustments for a seventh person.

-- Supplies for two extra days in space are aboard in case the crew runs into problems retracting an old solar wing on the station. That's in addition to two days' supplies for landing-related weather delays.

-- The crew plans to install two new solar wing panels on the right side of the station.