Space shuttle Atlantis lifted off Friday from the Kennedy Space Center for an 11-day mission to prepare the International Space Station (ISS) for its first crew's arrival in November.
It carried a seven-member crew, including Russian cosmonauts Yuri Malenshenko and Boris Morukov.
They are to prepare ISS modules to serve as living quarters for a three-man crew that will work at the station for four months starting in early November.
The principle task of the Atlantis crew will be to transfer more than a tonne and a half of equipment and supplies to the ISS, using Progress, a supply vehicle currently housed at the station.
Two crew members will take a space walk of more than six hours to install cables and a magnometer on the station's exterior.
Atlantis is due to return to the Kennedy Space Center here on September 19. Its journey marks the 99th mission by a space shuttle -- CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AFP)
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