Space Shuttle Discovery launches for mission STS-120

October 23, 2007 Space Shuttle Discovery successfully launched this morning from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 11:38 EDT (UTC-4).

During the two-week mission, the shuttle will deliver the Harmony Module to the International Space Station as well as preparing the space station for future additions.

About two hours before the scheduled launch, NASA discovered and assessed the threat posed by a 4 by 1.5-inch (10.16 by 3.81-cm) chunk of ice that had formed on a pipe that connects the external tank and the space shuttle main engines. A strike from debris at launch was responsible for the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003.