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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Clouds of smoke and steam seem to envelop space shuttle Atlantis as it leaps into the night sky from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the STS-123 mission. Liftoff was on time at 2:28 a.m. EDT. Endeavour's crew will make a record-breaking 16-day mission to the International Space Station and deliver the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, Dextre. Photo courtesy of Scott Andrews