The space shuttle Discovery blasted off on Thursday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on its final mission to the orbiting International Space Station.
Discovery took off with its crew of six veteran astronauts at 4:50 pm (2150 GMT) from Cape Canaveral for an 11-day mission.
The launch was to have occurred four months ago, but the shuttle was plagued by multiple delays after cracks were discovered in the spacecraft’s external fuel tank. It took NASA several months to pinpoint the cause of the cracks and fix the problem.
The mission is to deliver the last major U.S. contribution to the ISS — an extra room — along with supplies and equipment, including a human-like robot, known as Robonaut 2 (R2), the first-such robot ever sent to space.
The oldest vehicle in the operating shuttle fleet, Discovery entered construction in 1979 and blasted off into orbit for the first time in 1984. The shuttle fleet is due to be retired later this year with just two more flights scheduled.
