Video of the historic launch was somewhat marred by the clouds that threatened the launch but the last orbiter to fly in the shuttle program was International Space Station bound with her crew and payload.

The ride "uphill" went smoothly with no major issues during booster and tank separations, or orbital maneuvers.

The STS-135 crew consists of Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. They will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module filled with more than 8,000 pounds of supplies and spare parts to sustain space station operations after the shuttles are retired. Atlantis is on a 12-day mission and scheduled to dock to the station at 11:06 a.m. on Sunday, says NASA.

The mission includes flying the Robotic Refueling Mission, an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed for robotic refueling of satellites in space, even satellites not designed for servicing. The crew also will return with an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station. Engineers want to understand why the pump failed and improve designs for future spacecraft.

STS-135 is the 135th shuttle flight, the 33rd flight for Atlantis and the 37th shuttle mission dedicated to station assembly and maintenance.

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