Launch of the USS Discovery

[Mousey]

This is the launch of NASA's STS-131 mission - this time up it's the Discovery.

Only 3 more missions to go before NASA grounds the space shuttles - Atlantis, Endeavour, and then Discovery again this September for the final blast-off. Hard to believe they've been in service since their first test flights in 1981 - of the six shuttles, we lost Columbia and Challenger, and Enterprise never went into space, being the test vehicle up until the 80s. Let's hope that the Constellation programme can advance Humanity on its next step into the stars!

Also, watch this vid of a launch seen from a commercial aircraft. Try to ignore the "holy smokes" and "it's sooo coooool"