&philcUK

gallery

Bathed in the Florida sunshine, Space Shuttle Discovery climbs the ramp to the top of the hardstand at Launch Pad 39A. Discovery arrived at its launch pad around noon and was hard down at 1:15 p.m. First motion out of the Vehicle Assembly Building was at 6:47 a.m. Rollout is a milestone for Discovery's launch to the International Space Station on mission STS-120, targeted for Oct. 23. The crew will be delivering and installing the Italian-built U.S. Node 2, named Harmony.

Credit: NASA/JPL.