Space shuttle Atlantis launches

Atlantis commander Scott D. Altman, right, waves to NASA employees and family as he and the rest of the crew head to the shuttle. Next to Altman is pilot Gregory C. Johnson. Second row, mission specialist, K. Megan McArthur. Third row, mission specialist John Grunsfeld and mission specialist Andrew Feustel. Last row, mission specialist Michael Good and mission specialist Michael Massimino.  (Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)

The space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the final shuttle mission to service NASA‘s Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttle should reach the telescope on Wednesday.  (Bruce Weaver / AFP/Getty Images)

Clouds of smoke surge around the shuttle.  (Justin Dernier / EPA)

Sophie Taylor, on holiday from London came to watch the shuttle launch, near Veterans Park in Titusville, Fla.  (J Pat Carter / Associated Press)

NASA’s Hubble mission, its fifth and final one, is unusually risky, even by space travel standards, involving five spacewalks and extended time in the debris-riddled layer above Earth.  (Tannen Maury / EPA)

Photographers track the shuttle’s launch. If the mission is successful, it will leave the telescope with six new gyroscopes, six fully charged batteries, and four repaired or replaced cameras and spectrographs, including the workhorse wide-field camera No. 2 that was responsible for some of Hubble’s most dramatic images.  (John Raoux / Associated Press)

Spectators watch the shuttle from South Coco Beach. The mission’s repairs will keep Hubble functioning at peak efficiency at least through 2014, by which time the next-generation James Webb telescope is scheduled to take its place.  (J. Bahr / EPA)