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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Riding a column of fire, space shuttle Atlantis roars away from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida toward its rendezvous with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The liftoff was on-time at 2:01 p.m. EDT. Atlantis' 11-day flight will include five spacewalks to refurbish and upgrade the telescope with state-of-the-art science instruments that will expand Hubble's capabilities and extend its operational lifespan through at least 2014. The payload includes a Wide Field Camera 3, fine guidance sensor and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph-Kevin O'Connell