The US space shuttle Endeavour has lifted off on its final mission, watched by tens of thousands of onlookers.
The launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida had been delayed for two weeks by an electrical fault.
The mission commander is Mark Kelly, the husband of US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who is recovering from an assassination attempt in January in which she was shot in the head.
Ms Giffords watched the blast-off with the families of the Endeavour crew.
The ship will deliver a $2 billion particle physics experiment, known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and a tray of critical spare parts to the International Space Station.
On Endeavour's return, the only active ship left in US space agency NASA's shuttle fleet will be Atlantis, which is due to undertake its final mission in July.
On completion of the 30-year shuttle programme, America will use Russian Soyuz capsules to fly its astronauts to the international space station.
A number of US national commercial carriers are expected to enter into service around the middle of the decade, which NASA will pay to use.
