STS046-S-082 (31 July 1992) --- This panoramic scene at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 shows the Space Shuttle Atlantis as it blasts off on its way to eight days of Earth orbital operations with a crew of five NASA astronauts and two European scientists onboard. Launch occurred at 9:56:47:976 a.m. (EDT), July 31, 1992. Onboard the spacecraft were astronauts Loren J. Shriver, Andrew M. Allen, Jeffrey A. Hoffman, Marsha S. Ivins and Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, along with the European Space Agency's Claude Nicollier and the Italian Space Agency's Franco Malerba.