Kennedy Space Center , Florida ( CNN ) -- The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off Friday afternoon on its final planned mission . The shuttle blasted off under bright sunny skies at 2:20 p.m . The six astronauts on board plan to deliver an integrated cargo carrier and a Russian-built mini-research module to the international space station . They also plan to bring a `` set of batteries for the station 's truss and dish antenna , along with other replacement parts , '' NASA says . In addition to the mission that got under way Friday afternoon , NASA has plans for two space shuttle missions before the program ends . This Just In : The ( maybe ) final flight of Atlantis . Atlantis has flown more than 115 million miles in almost 25 years , NASA says . It was the first orbiter to dock with the Russian space station , Mir . `` Atlantis has a history of being the shuttle that did the most international things , '' said Emily Nelson , lead space station flight director for the mission . `` It 's the orbiter that the Russians have known best , because it 's one that came to their space station most often , and it 's one that we used to deliver a module for them in the past . '' Atlantis also carried into orbit the Magellan spacecraft , which went on to map 98 percent of the planet Venus . It also sent the Galileo spacecraft on its way to collect data about Jupiter and its moons for eight years .
Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off Friday afternoon . Two - man mission to take crew to the international space station . Mission is one of the final missions for the shuttle program .