1988 ~ I remember this day well ~ Discovery lifts off from its platform at Kennedy Space Center on September 29, 1988. Exhaust plumes billow from the two solid rocket boosters and covers launch pad as the Discovery, atop of the orange external tank clears the launch tower and heads for Earth orbit. STS-26 marks NASA's first human spaceflight mission since the 51L Challenger accident, January 28, 1986.
