Discovery Begins Roll to the Launch Pad

Like a Broadway star ready for the final performance, space shuttle Discovery took center stage as it emerged through the Vehicle Assembly Building's towering door bathed in bright xenon lights. The shuttle began its 3.4-mile journey to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center just after sunset, departing the mammoth building at 7:23 p.m. EDT. The spacecraft -- which was the third to join NASA's shuttle fleet -- will make its final flight on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station, targeted for launch on Nov. 1. Gathering to witness one of the final space shuttle rollouts and share the moment of space history are several astronauts, as well as Kennedy employees along with their families and friends. Stacked with its solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank on the mobile launcher platform, the shuttle's slow roll atop a crawler-transporter should take about six and a half hours.