Discovery Liftoff

Discovery at T- 0 sec blasting off to ISS on a 13-Day mission and also celebrating its 25th birthday.

Finally on the third attempt, Discovery was successfully blasted off to the International Space Station, turning the night sky into daytime as it rocketed into the orbit and also celebrating its 25th birthday by taking science stuff to the ISS.

Discovery embarked on a 13-Day mission carrying 8 tons of cargo including new science gears, crew supplies and a treadmill “COLBERT” which was named after television comedian Stephen Colbert. Some of the new facilities include a new freezer for storing samples, two big racks for material sciences and fluid science and a drawer containing six mice to study bone loss. These mice will later return to Earth for analysis in a November shuttle mission. Space shuttle Discovery also carried the Leonardo supply module to the International Space Station during STS-128, along with a new crew member for the station, Nicole Stott.

Friday’s launch marked the 128th shuttle mission for NASA and the 30th fight to the International Space Station. It is Discovery’s 37th flight and NASA’s 33rd shuttle mission to launch at night. It came just two days ahead of the 25th anniversary of the shuttle’s first flight in 1984. The mission is also NASA’s 15th shuttle flight since the 2003 loss of shuttle Columbia and its seven-astronaut crew.

Credit: NASA Tv

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