CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, April 5, 2010 (AFP) - The US space shuttle Discovery blasted off at dawn Monday toward the International Space Station for a mission that will put more women in orbit than ever before.
Discovery lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 6:21 am (1021 GMT) as scheduled.
The two booster rockets, which account for 80 percent of the shuttle's lift during takeoff, peeled away as planned 120 seconds after the launch, falling into the Atlantic Ocean, where they will be subsequently recuperated and reused.
