Defying the order of gravity and minor safety concerns, the Space Shuttle Discovery successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, shortly after 14:40 Greenwich Mean Time, Tuesday 26 July, 2005.
Faithful watchers of debris and scavenger hunters counted no explosions beyond the standard jettison of the booster rockets.
Bean counters and statisticians are at the ever ready. Twelve days from now they expect to be ticking away with their counters on the eventual, and some fear largely intact, homecoming of the vessel before the library installs the late returns fee.
Written on Tuesday, 26 July 2005