"Atlantis" lifted off from Pad B, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 12:53 EDT on 18 October 1989. It carried the Jupiter-bound "Galileo" spacecraft in its cargo bay. The countdown was delayed at T-minus 5 minutes for 3 minutes and 40 seconds to update the onboard computer for a change in the Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) site. The TAL site was changed from Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco, to Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, because of heavy rain at Ben Guerir.