Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off for space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from its seaside launch pad on Friday and soared toward a Sunday rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Riding atop a pillar of smoke and flame, the shuttle and its seven astronauts thundered off from the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida at 7:38 p.m. EDT on NASA's first shuttle mission of the year.

Eight and a half minutes after lift-off, the shuttle reached space, beginning a mission delayed for three months by damage the spaceship sustained during a hailstorm in February.

"It took us a little while to get to this point, but the ship's in great shape. It's beautiful weather for you out there, so good luck and Godspeed," shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach told the crews shortly before lift-off.

The shuttle is to arrive at the space station shortly after 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday and it will be delivering two huge segments of the station's structural backbone.

The exterior truss components include two solar wing panels and a rotary joint so the wings can track the sun and provide electricity to the station, which hovers about 220 miles above Earth and is slightly more than halfway built.