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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - As billows of smoke and steam roll away, Space Shuttle Discovery leaps from Launch Pad 39B on the historic Return to Flight mission STS-114. Liftoff occurred at 10:39 a.m. EDT. At right is the 290-foot water tower that holds the 300,000 gallons of water that flood the pad for sound suppression. This is the 114th Space Shuttle flight and the 31st for Discovery. The 12-day mission is expected to end with touchdown at the Shuttle Landing Facility on Aug. 7. On this mission to the International Space Station the crew will perform inspections on-orbit for the first time of all of the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panels on the leading edge of the wings and the Thermal Protection System tiles using the new Canadian-built Orbiter Boom Sensor System and the data from 176 impact and temperature sensors. Mission Specialists will also practice repair techniques on RCC and tile samples during a spacewalk in the payload bay. During two additional spacewalks, the crew will install the External Stowage Platform-2, equipped with spare part assemblies, and a replacement Control Moment Gyroscope contained in the Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - As billows of smoke and steam roll away, Space Shuttle Discovery leaps from Launch Pad 39B on the historic Return to Flight mission STS-114. Liftoff occurred at 10:39 a.m. EDT. At right is the 290-foot water tower that holds the 300,000 gallons of water that flood the pad for sound suppression. This is the 114th Space Shuttle flight and the 31st for Discovery. The 12-day mission is expected to end with touchdown at the Shuttle Landing Facility on Aug. 7. On this mission to the International Space Station the crew will perform inspections on-orbit for the first time of all of the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panels on the leading edge of the wings and the Thermal Protection System tiles using the new Canadian-built Orbiter Boom Sensor System and the data from 176 impact and temperature sensors. Mission Specialists will also practice repair techniques on RCC and tile samples during a spacewalk in the payload bay. During two additional spacewalks, the crew will install the External Stowage Platform-2, equipped with spare part assemblies, and a replacement Control Moment Gyroscope contained in the Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure.