A former Atlanta resident took the pilot seat Thursday afternoon for the Space Shuttle Discovery's final mission.
The space trip is the second for Col. Eric A. Boe, who piloted the nearly 16-day Endeavor mission to the International Space Station in November 2008.
Boe, 46, graduated from Henderson High School in DeKalb County in 1983 before attending the U.S. Air Force Academy. Boe later returned to Atlanta, where he earned a master's degree at Georgia Tech in 1997. He was selected as a NASA pilot in 2000.
Although he now lives in Texas, Boe has close ties to the Atlanta area. Boe invited Fernbank Science Center educator Debi Huffman to his first space launch in 2008, making good on a promise he made years ago. Huffman first met Boe when he was 12 years old.
Boe was among three Georgia Tech graduates on the 2008 mission, which included crew members Lt. Col. Robert "Shane" Kimbrough and Sandra Magnus. Fans at a Tech home football game saluted the crew on the night the shuttle landed at the space station.
Boe returned to Fernbank in February 2009, where he answered questions about the mission and spoke about his work as an astronaut.
Problems with the external fuel tank have delayed the Discovery launch for several months, but the crew lifted off from Kennedy Space Center around 4:55 p.m. Thursday.
The 11-day mission will be the 39th for the Discovery. The crew will haul various hardware and a storage room to the space center, along with a robot.
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