14-Day Mission Begins

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 10.23.07 1315 EDT: NASA tells ANN the crew of STS-120 is safely in orbit, and on their way to the International Space Station following a flawless liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

During the 14-day mission, designated STS-120, Discovery's crew will continue construction of the space station with the installation of the Harmony connecting module, also known as Node 2. The crew, led by Commander Pam Melroy, will conduct five spacewalks during the mission, four by shuttle crew members and one by the station's Expedition 16 crew.

Discovery is scheduled to dock to the station Thursday.

NASA engineers will now study images of the shuttle's external fuel tank throughout the launch, to determine whether any significant chunks of insulating foam broke free of the tank during launch. STS-120 is the first mission to fly a tank modified to prevent ice buildup in key areas.

Those modifications -- designed to reduce ice-buildup along pipework feeding supercooled oxygen and hydrogen to the shuttle's three main engines -- did not prevent a worrisome chunk of ice from forming towards the bottom of the tank hours before launch. NASA ruled the ice had dissipated enough by launch time to not pose a safety threat.

Original Reports

1145 EDT: "Hoisting Harmony to the heavens." That's how NASA's shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach summarized Tuesday morning's launch of the shuttle Discovery, as it sped towards a rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Discovery lifted off from the launch pad right on time, at 1138 EDT. The weather, which was a concern with just a 40 percent chance of favorable conditions at launch time, proved to be a non-issue as the orbiter rocketed into the sunny Florida skies.

Discovery and its seven astronauts will add a new module called Harmony to the orbiting laboratory during the STS-120 mission. They will also reposition a station segment already in orbit and crew member Dan Tani will move into the space station for a long-duration mission.

Discovery is scheduled to land at Kennedy following the 14-day mission.

1100 EDT: With just under 40 minutes to go before launch, technicians working at Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida have closed the hatch leading into space shuttle Discovery's crew compartment.

The shuttle's seven astronauts are running through pre-launch tests and checks. Technicians are putting the finishing touches on the white room itself so it can safely fold away from Discovery in the last few minutes before launch.

The countdown is proceeding towards an 1138 EDT liftoff, with countdown set to resume, on schedule, momentarily. Weather forecasts remain less-than-favorable at launch time, although currently the skies show only scattered clouds.

STS-120, commanded by Pamela Melroy, will spend two weeks at the International Space Station, installing the Italian-built Harmony module.

FMI: www.nasa.gov