Event Descriptions

T+0:00	Liftoff
The twin solid rocket boosters are ignited and space shuttle Atlantis launches from pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, beginning the 111st shuttle mission and 15th to the International Space Station.
T+0:11	Start roll maneuver
Atlantis begins a programmed roll maneuver to achieve a northeasterly track from KSC, heading toward a 51.6 degree inclination to the equator.
T+0:18	End roll
The shuttle completes the programmed roll maneuver and is now positioned heads down, wings level.
T+0:33	Start throttle down
The three liquid-fueled main engines are throttled down to ease the vehicle's flight through the dense lower atmosphere.
T+0:49	Throttle up
Atlantis' main engines begin throttling back up to about full thrust for the continued trek to space.
T+1:01	Max-Q
The shuttle passes through the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure that is experienced during its climb to orbit.
T+2:03	SRB staging
Having consumed all their propellant, the solid rocket boosters are jettisoned from the attachment points on the external fuel tank. The boosters parachute into the Atlantic Ocean for recovery and reuse.
T+3:54	Negative return
Atlantis is now too far downrange and traveling too fast to make an emergency Return-to-Launch-Site abort landing at Kennedy Space Center. A problem after this point during flight requiring an abort would lead to a Trans-Atlantic Abort Landing, Abort-to-Orbit or Abort-Once-Around.
T+5:47	Rolls to heads up
A programmed maneuver rolls Atlantis to a heads up position, placing the shuttle atop the external tank. This is done to improve communications between the shuttle and NASA's orbiting Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
T+8:24	MECO command
Atlantis' three main engines are shut down. The external fuel tank is jettisoned moments later. An upcoming firing at about T+45 minutes by the OMS engines will boost the shuttle from its current sub-orbital trajectory to a safe altitude as the chase begins to rendezvous with the International Space Station.