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Space Shuttle Discovery Blasts Off
Space shuttle Discovery soared into the dawn Thursday, carrying a new crew to the international space station to relieve the three men who have been toiling in orbit for the past four months.
The shuttle will catch up with the space station early Saturday, and the fresh crew and the weary one will immediately begin trading places.
It was a smooth countdown and a flawless climb to orbit. Discovery arced neatly through a stunningly clear sky tinged peach from the rising sun. It was 45 degrees, one of the colder launch-time temperatures, but well within the safety limits.
The international space station, Alpha, and its crew were passing high above the Indian Ocean near Australia when Discovery took off. American astronaut Bill Shepherd and his Russian shipmates, logging their 128th day in space, welcomed the news that Discovery was on the way.
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev and American astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms will spend the next four months aboard the space station.
Besides a new space station crew and four other astronauts, Discovery is hauling 10,000 pounds of supplies packed in an Italian-made module named Leonardo.
During Discovery's eight days at the space station, Leonardo will be attached to the complex and emptied of its contents. It will then be brought back to Earth aboard the shuttle on March 20.
``Happy Women's Day!''Helms will be the first woman to live on the space station. Looking a little sad, she waved and said, ``Bye, Mom'' to the TV cameras just before liftoff, which took place on International Women's Day.
Before crawling into Discovery, Usachev and Voss held up a sign with the words ``Happy Women's Day!'' in Russian and English.
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