(CBS) - Mission managers are calling Monday's liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis the most perfect liftoff they've ever had.

Atlantis roared to life, rocketing its six astronauts to the International Space Station.

"We still have a tough mission in front of us," said Bill Gerstenmaier of NASA, Space Operations. "We still have a lot of activities to do with the space station. We need to stay focused on that but it looked very, very good."

This is a hard hat, blue collar mission for the Space Agency.

Atlantis is hauling more than 13 tons of spare and refurbished parts to the Station.

With the Shuttle a year from retirement, Bob Crippen, the pilot on the very first shuttle says it’s critical to get the big pieces up there now.