CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA said a patched-up space shuttle Atlantis performed "magnificently" during the first launch of 2007.

It appeared something fell from the tank more than two minutesinto the ascent, several seconds after the solid rocket boosters separated. Shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said that foam did fall off the tank, as expected, but that it happened too late in the ascent to be a problem.

Months after a delay caused by a freak hailstorm, Atlantis roared into space Friday night during the first opportunity NASA had after repairing the damage to send it to the International Space Station.

The weather in Europe was sketchy late Friday, prompting worries that the launch would be delayed, but weather cleared at one emergency landing site in time.

After an on-time takeoff from pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center, mission controllers quickly moved through checklists with no problems noted on open communication channels.

NASA director Michael Griffin said earlier Friday that the agency was ready for "a really textbook launch" after what he called "a tough six months" that included the hailstorm, which damaged the external fuel tank and forced the shuttle off the pad, and a bizarre incident involving a love triangle among astronauts.

Atlantis and its seven astronauts will deliver a new segment and a pair of energy-producing solar panels to the International Space Station, similar to the last shuttle flight.

Astronaut Clay Anderson will replace astronaut Sunita Williams as the U.S. representative on the space station.

It's an 11-day mission for Atlantis.