Return to Flight

The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch at 3:51 p.m. EDT today. You can watch the countdown until liftoff on NASA's website: Return to Flight

It's been two and a half years since the Colombia disaster, and now, finally, NASA's sending another shuttle into space. You can prepare and test and inspect and double check all you want, but nothing is ever 100% safe, especially something as risky as space travel. There are simply too many variables and unknowns. But the astronauts are willing to put their lives on the line in the name of science, so if they are willing to take the risk I say we should let them. There are still so many things in the universe we don't understand, so much territory that has never been explored.

So good luck, Discovery, and come home safely.