With a 70% chance of a weather violation the Space Shuttle Atlantis beat the odds and thrilled close to a million gathered people who waited hours to see the final launch of a Space Shuttle. (Video of launch available)
The launch was very much in jeopardy up until the final hour before launch. It seemed the weather might not clear in time forcing a 48 hours scrub. But in the last hour the weather started to clear. But that wasn’t the only excitement. The countdown was briefly stopped at the T-Minus 0:31 second mark as an there was some indication that the gaseous oxygen vent arm wasn’t fully retracted. However subsequent checks showed it was fine and the launch proceeded to cheers from the large gathered crowds around the countdown clock.
Then there was nothing stopping the countdown and for the final time ever a space shuttle blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on its final mission.