Space shuttle Discovery takes off on final mission

Discovery blasted off at 4:53:24 p.m. Eastern time from the Florida's Kennedy Space Center. It lifted off after a small delay, as a glitch occurred in the central command system display.

It was indeed a spectacular launch and many residents and tourists had gathered in the nearby areas to see the space shuttle thunder into orbit for the last time.

Large pieces of debris fall
As Discovery took off, several pieces of foam insulation were seen falling off space shuttle's fuel tank. Some pieces of debris even hit Discovery's heat shield.

This could have posed threat to shuttle's heat shield, specifically when Discovery moved out of the dense lower atmosphere, where pieces of foam insulation could have lead to severe damage.

But no such damage was captured by the cameras placed on two sides of shuttle's external tank.

After Discovery's successful launch, Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA, said in a press conference that the space shuttle "performance was perfectly nominal during ascent," adding, "When we get Discovery back [on Earth], we can talk about how things really went."

The mission crew members will survey the space shuttle for any signs of damage during launch, and a detailed inspection will carried out over the next few days.

The astronauts will spend Friday performing the “standard scan of the shuttle’s thermal protection system using the orbiter boom sensor system attached to the end of Discovery’s robotic arm,” NASA stated.

Space mission
On its 39th journey its space, Discovery, which has been launched into space more than may other space shuttle, is carrying six astronauts, Robonaut 2 which is the first humanoid robot to fly in space, and other critical supplies and equipments.

The space shuttle is scheduled to reach ISS at 2:16 p.m. on Feb. 26. Saturday.

The astronauts will spend Friday performing the “standard scan of the shuttle’s thermal protection system using the orbiter boom sensor system attached to the end of Discovery’s robotic arm,”Nasa stated.

Meanwhile, mission specialists Alvin Drew, Steve Bowen, and Nicole Stott will be working on the spacesuits that will be delivered to ISS once the shuttle docks. These spacesuits will be used during this mission two spacewalks.

During the mission, the astronauts will install the Permanent Multipurpose Module, and the Express Logistics Carrier 4.

The mission will last 11 days. Discovery is scheduled to land at Kennedy at 12:44 p.m. on Monday, March 7. Following this, it will retire to museum.