After four postponements, space shuttle Discovery made her countdown. The ship and its crew of six astronauts took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:50pm local time. At a blistering 3000 miles per hour, NASA made history and the first of three final launches was complete.
Onboard the shuttle was an Italian-built cargo carrier re-engineered to provide extra storage space on the International Space Station, five tons of supplies and Robonaut 2. After winning a Reader’s Choice Award from Engadget, Robonaut 2 is believed to become a humanoid helpmate for future space-station crews.
Live broadcasts of the lift off were seen on HDNet and also on NASA’s website. As an American, the successful launch of Discovery really hit home. NASA is moving in a new direction, handing off the responsibility of delivering goods and US astronauts to and from the state station to private launch companies.
We’ll be watching the flight of space shuttle Discovery as the final voyage continues. We’ve just passed the 13 minute mark, but so everything looks a-okay for now.
via NASA
