KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Under an almost flawless blue sky, Clayton Anderson fulfilled his boyhood dream Friday and became the first native Nebraskan to fly into space.

STS-117, the 118th space shuttle flight, lifted off as scheduled at 6:38 p.m. CDT, without any delays or problems. Rain had fallen earlier in the day, but by evening, the storms had moved inland, leaving a canopy of blue with some scattered white and gray clouds.

Friday was a very special day for Anderson. The hometown boy from Ashland not only achieved his lifelong dream but also honored his father, Jack Anderson. His first voyage into space took place on his father’s birthday. Jack Anderson died in 1984 of a stroke at 53. Friday would have been his 76th birthday.

“I shook the whole time, but I didn’t take my eyes off of it,” the astronaut’s mother, Alice Anderson, 77, of Ashland, said minutes after the booster rockets took her middle son into space. “It was just awesome!”

The space shuttle lifted from launch pad 39 A in a white cloud, followed seconds later by a thunderous roar that sent vibrations through the air. A gigantic plume of smoke unfurled as the space shuttle soared into the sky just as the sun was setting.

As the shuttle blasted off from its launch pad, Alice Anderson said, she squeezed her daughter Lorie Hartzell’s hand so hard she was afraid that she was going to take her arm off.

Clayton Anderson’s ride into space was a very emotional experience for his mother, who nurtured his interest in space by waking him up as a youngster to watch the launch to the moon and other historic missions.

“I’m very subdued,” Alice Anderson said.

Hartzell cried.

“It was pretty emotional,” she said. “It’s just amazing watching it go. I was crying the whole time. It was amazing!”

The astronaut’s wife, Susan Anderson, echoed those thoughts.

“It was pretty emotional. All of us were shedding some tears,” she said.

She said her two children, son Cole and daughter Sutton,  didn’t say anything.

“They just stared at the clouds and the plume and the really cool looking shadow and they just watched.”

Inspired by his mother, and some say his father, Clayton Anderson never lost sight of his goal of becoming an astronaut, even though his application to become an astronaut was rejected by NASA 15 times.

Anderson attended Ashland-Greenwood High School and graduated from Hastings College with honors in physics in 1981. He earned his master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University and joined NASA in 1983 in the mission planning and analysis division. After working on several projects, Anderson was selected into the elite astronaut corps as a mission specialist in 1998.

A large contingent of Anderson’s family, plus high school and college friends, traveled here to watch Anderson lift off into space. In addition to his wife, children, mother and sister, the family entourage included:  Anderson’s younger brother Kirby and his family of Omaha;  Hartzell’s family, of Hastings; and uncle Jim Anderson, also of Ashland.

One of Anderson’s high school classmates, Jeff Raikes, also made the trip from Seattle, Wash., where he is president of Microsoft’s business division.

“It was really incredible. It was a much more awesome experience than I even anticipated,” said Raikes, who was one year ahead of Anderson in high school.

Raikes and members of the Anderson family watched the liftoff from the Banana River viewing area next to the Saturn V building.

“It was an absolutely beautiful evening. Perfect weather for the launch. They sky was incredible,” Raikes said.

The sight of the space shuttle soaring into space wasn’t the only thing that impressed Raikes. The sound did, too. He said a “wave of sound carried through the viewing area. It was incredible.”

Anderson’s guest list also included Hastings College classmate Mike Karloff and his family, and two of Anderson’s former Hastings College professors, Clyde Sachtleben, professor emeritus of physics, and Carl Throckmorton, professor emeritus of physics and mathematics.

Jack Dunn, coordinator of Mueller Planetarium at the University of Nebraska State Museum, also flew down.

“Oh, it was very beautiful. Really nice,” said Dunn, who also was here for the Apollo 14 liftoff. “I think it’s great for him and the state in so many ways.”

Dunn said he has seen a lot of Nebraskans in the area in recent days, many wearing red shirts. A contingent from Susan Anderson’s church near Houston, Texas, also made the trip, he said.

STS-117 will deliver a 17.5-ton truss segment, install new solar arrays and retract an existing array for the space station. NASA says the mission will increase the station’s power capability in preparation for the arrival of new science modules from the European and Japanese space agencies.

The STS-117 mission, the 21st to the space station, will last 11 days, returning Commander Rick Sturckow and his other five crewmates to Earth, leaving behind Anderson for nearly a five-month stay aboard the space station.

Anderson, 48, will replace current station crew member Sunita Williams, who has lived on the station since December. Williams will come back to Earth on Atlantis. Upon her return, she will have spent more time in space than any other woman.

The exchange of Anderson and Williams was originally planned for the STS-118 mission, now targeted for August. However, that flight, first set to fly in June, had to be postponed after a hail storm damaged Atlantis’ external fuel tank and delayed STS-117. Anderson was chosen as the flight engineer for the mission.

During his time on the space station, Anderson will perform three space walks and operate a robotic arm to move a utility module called Harmony. It’s scheduled to be taken up to the station by STS-120 in October, a month before Anderson is scheduled to come home.

When he’s not working, Anderson plans to involve Nebraskans, especially kids, in his space odyssey. When it’s his turn to speak from space, he will read the names of several Nebraska towns or cities — there’s more than 500 — daily. He also will invite kids “to run around the world” with him while he exercises on a treadmill. And he plans to talk with his family via satellite phone when possible or e-mail them.

At the urging of family members, Alice Anderson bought a new laptop computer so she could e-mail her son.

In an earlier interview, Alice Anderson said she was more concerned about her son’s long separation from his family rather than the shuttle launch itself.

“Their marriage is very important. That’s what bothers me,” she said.

In an interview with the Journal Star, Clayton Anderson said he is proud to represent the state.

“I hope all those people in Nebraska will follow along and share in the adventure,” he said.

Among the things Anderson planned to take into space: a Nebraska flag that flew over the Capitol during a statehood celebration, high school and college memorabilia, a pair of drumsticks from Mannheim Steamroller — and a photo of his father.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 402-473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.