Discovery Lauch Successful

Discovery Lauch Successful
July 26, 2005

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I'll admit, I was worried, but everything appears to have gone off without a hitch, as Discovery roared into the blue skies over Florida. Its was the first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Discovery Lift-Off, Launch Pad 39B

Image credit: NASA/KSC

Thunderous rocket engines erupted across Kennedy Space Center, as Discovery began her journey from Launch Pad 39B for NASA's "Return to Flight" mission.

Commanded by Eileen Collins, and carrying an international crew of seven astronauts, the STS-114 mission is a 12-day flight to deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station.

Collins is a veteran of three spaceflights. She became the first woman pilot of a Space Shuttle on the first flight of the joint Russian-American Shuttle-Mir program, and the first woman to command a Shuttle mission.