NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft with the Space Shuttle Atlantis on top lifts off to begin its ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Atlantis launched June 8, 2007, and arrived at the International Space Station on June 10. While at the orbital outpost, the crew installed the Starboard 3 and 4 truss segment and conducted four spacewalks to activate it. During the third spacewalk, the crew repaired an out of position thermal blanket on the left orbital maneuvering system pod.

Atlantis also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson. He replaced astronaut Suni Williams, who is the new record holder for a long-duration single spaceflight for a woman. She arrived at the station in December of 2006 with STS-116.

STS-117 is the 118th shuttle mission and 21st mission to visit the space station.