On February 7, 2007 (December 20, 2006 lunar calendar), the space shuttle "Atlantis" was successfully launched. The space shuttle Atlantis was successfully launched on February 7, 2007 NASA's "Atlantis" space shuttle was successfully launched at 2:45 pm ET on the 7th at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The "Atlantis" currently carrying seven astronauts is entering its scheduled orbit and is expected to arrive at the International Space Station on the 9th. The first task of the "Atlantis" flight is to send the European-made, $2 billion "Columbus" experiment module to the International Space Station and complete the installation work. For the next seven years, the Columbus experiment module will work with the US Destiny experiment module in orbit. Two of the seven astronauts are French and German from the European Space Agency. The French astronaut, Eyaltz, will replace the American astronaut Daniel Downey, who will later return to the ground with the space shuttle.