Cablers Cover Space Shuttle Discovery’s Final Launch

The Space Shuttle Discovery made its final launch just after 4:50 PM ET, carrying six astronauts to the International Space Station.

There is now only one more launch scheduled before the Shuttle program ends. That would be the launch of Endeavor, which is scheduled to lift off April 19, and will be commanded by Capt. Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Update: While Endeavor was originally slated to be the final shuttle launch, Atlantis is now scheduled to be the last, sometime in June.

All three cable news channels carried the launch live:

Meanwhile, former CNN science and space correspondent Miles O’Brien was also covering the launch… on his shuttle webcast at SpaceFlightNow.com.