Space shuttle Discovery and seven astronauts blazed into orbit on a spectacular Friday midnight flight to the international space station, transporting a treadmill named after a TV comedian, mice and thousands of pounds of more solemn supplies. Discovery lit up the sky for miles around as it thundered away on NASA's third launch attempt. Lightning flashed far in the distance, and the ascending shuttle resembled a bright star until it blinked out of sight five minutes after liftoff. The space station was soaring more than 220 miles above the Indian Ocean, southwest of Tasmania, when Discovery took off. The shuttle will reach the orbiting outpost Sunday night. “It looks like third time really is the charm,” launch director Pete Nickolenko told commander Rick Sturckow. Eight mice, including four that were genetically enhanced with a double portion of a bone-building gene, will be left on the station as part of a study to find out why astronauts' bones break down in the gravity-free world of space. The affliction is similar to osteoporosis, the bone-destroying disease, which affects millions of people on Earth, particularly post-menopausal women, and occurs because bone breakdown outpaces replenishment. Discovery's most prominent payload is NASA's new $5 million treadmill, which is named after Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert. Colbert tried to get a space station room named after himself and even won the online vote earlier this year, but NASA went with Tranquility instead in honor of the 40th anniversary of man's first moon landing. The comedian said the treadmill – for “all those chubby astronauts” – is a consolation prize. It was NASA's 33rd night-time shuttle launch and preceded, by just two days, the 25th anniversary of Discovery's first liftoff. Flags flew at half-staff throughout Kennedy Space Center Friday in memory of Sen. Edward Kennedy.
