After a string of frustrating launch delays, the shuttle Discovery finally rocketed into orbit today to kick off the 100th shuttle mission, the most complex space station assembly flight yet attempted. Putting on a spectacular sky show, the shuttle majestically climbed above its launch gantry, wheeled about to line up on the proper trajectory and arced away to the northeast, hot on the trail of the international space station. Launch occurred at the moment Earth's rotation carried pad 39A into the plane of the space station's orbit.
Discovery climbs through the evening sky.
The unmanned station complex was sailing 230 miles above the southern Indian Ocean at the moment the shuttle thundered aloft. It will take Duffy and company two days to chase down their quarry for a carefully choreographed docking Friday afternoon as the two spacecraft pass over Russian ground stations. Melroy is the only rookie on the roster. The crew of space shuttle Discovery leave for the launch pad. Animation shows the black PMA-3 being attached to Unity by the shuttle's robot arm above the nose of Discovery.