Space Shuttle Discovery launches for mission STS-120
{{date|October 23, 2007}}
[[Image:STS-120Launch-LowRes.jpg|left|thumb|The launch of STS-120]]
[[Image:Sts-120-patch.svg|right|thumb|Mission insignia]]
[[w:Space Shuttle Discovery|Space Shuttle Discovery]] successfully launched this morning from [[w:Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|Launch Complex 39A]] at the [[W:Kennedy Space Center|Kennedy Space Center]] at 11:38 EDT (UTC-4).

During the two-week [[w:STS-120|mission]], the shuttle will deliver the [[w:Harmony Module|Harmony Module]] to the [[w:International Space Station|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 [[w:Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster|loss]] of the [[W:Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle Columbia]] in February 2003.

{{haveyoursay}}
== Sources ==
*{{source|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7056539.stm
|title=Shuttle heads for space station
|author=
|pub=BBC News Online
|date=October 23, 2007}}
*{{source|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119314926370168431.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
|title=Space Shuttle Lifts Off on Schedule After NASA Finds Ice on Discovery
|author=Associated Press
|pub=The Wall Street Journal
|date=October 22, 2007}}

== External links ==
*{{source|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts120/index.html
|title=STS-120
|author=
|pub=NASA
|date=October 23, 2007}}

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[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Science and technology]]
[[Category:United States]]
[[Category:North America]]
[[Category:NASA]]
[[Category:International Space Station]]
[[Category:Space Shuttle Discovery]]
[[de:STS-120 erfolgreich gestartet]]
[[it:Ventitreesima missione per la costruzione della ISS, anche un italiano in orbita]]
The launch of STS-120
Mission insignia
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.
Space Science and technology United States North America NASA International Space Station Space Shuttle Discovery