05-04-10 NASA Launches Shuttle Discovery In Pre-dawn Liftoff

The space shuttle Discovery lit up the sky above Florida like an artificial sun Monday in a rare pre-dawn liftoff of one of NASA's last few shuttle missions – and the final flight expected to launch under cover of darkness.Discovery soared spaceward from a seaside launch pad here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center with a crew of seven astronauts on a busy delivery mission to the International Space Station.Liftoff occurred at 6:21 a.m. EDT (1021 GMT)."It is time for you to rise into orbit.Good luck and Godspeed," NASA test director Pete Nickolenko told the astronauts. "We'll see you in a few weeks," shuttle commander Alan Poindexter radioed back. "Let's do it!" Discovery is hauling about 17,000 pounds (7,711 kg) of new science equipment,supplies and spare parts to the nearly complete space station."It's a complex 13-day mission," Poindexter said before launch."Our main mission is resupply." Only three more shuttle flights remain after this one before NASA retires its aging three-orbiter fleet in late September.After that,the space agency plans to rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the station (along with unmanned Russian,European and Japanese freighters to haul supplies) until American-built commercial vehicles become available.