 Good morning. We begin our live coverage on NASA television of mission STS-85 here at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in 5 Room 3 of the Launch Control Center. Today NASA will embark on the 86th space shuttle flight and its 16-year history of the shuttle program. The near-11-day mission features the deployment and retrieval of a satellite designed to study Earth's middle atmosphere and significant tests of hardware that could be used in the assembly of the International Space Station. This is Shuttle Launch Control. We have the flight crew at their breakfast table. We have pillow commander Jan Davis. She's flying for the third time today. And we have Bob Kirby, shuttle rookie, flying for the first time today. And Commander Kirk Brown making his fourth time in flight today. First time as commander. Kent Rominger, two-time shuttle veteran. And we have Steven Robinson flying for the first time today. And Canadian astronaut Bjarne Trigveson also flying on the shuttle for the first time today. Crew has been awake now for just about half an hour getting ready for the first flight day on their upcoming mission. Crew is ready to go. They came to Florida Monday evening and have been at Kennedy Space Center preparing for the flight over the last couple of days. We've got Commander Kirk Brown who's just walked into the suit-up room following the weather briefing. This is his fourth flight and he has overall responsibility for commanding the flight. This will be his first flight as commander. He served as pilot of three previous missions on STS-92. And we have pilot Kent Rominger. As pilot he will assist Brown at the flight controls. This will be his third flight and his birthday today. He's 41 years old. He will also be assisting commander during the rendezvous and retrieval of the Krista Spa's payload and will also be involved in several payloads including the solid surface combustion experiment. We have Canadian astronaut Bjarne Trigveson making his first flight on the shuttle today. Trigveson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland. We've got Jan Davis. She's making her third flight today. She's the payload commander with overall responsibility of servicing tasks. She will operate the robot arm to deploy and retrieve the German Krista Spa's payload. She'll also be involved in the manipulator flight demonstration which is a small fine robot arm. And we have mission specialist Robert Kirby making his first flight today on the shuttle. He serves as flight engineer and will assist the commander and pilot with ascent and reentry checklists and in monitoring all vehicle systems. And we have mission specialist Steven Robinson. This will be his first flight. He is the prime mission specialist for the Krista Spa's payload and he will work with Jan Davis with the robot arm activity and will operate several experiments. We're now looking at the final inspection team on the top of the mobile launcher platform. This crew has binoculars and they perform photo documentation of the vehicle configuration and cryogenic surfaces. They collect data with an infrared scanner. They're looking at numerical data and they correlate it with infrared data. Crew's getting ready for a 10-day mission. And the CDR contract. CDR Houston, you're live and clear. Good morning, Curt. We see you up close and personal there. Now we see the birthday boy getting into his seat, the pilot. He's only gone to two handrails, one in the center of the near the windows and one on his right side. And then as they hold his parachute he pulls himself down into the seat. Can we get a QC on 143, please? QC, QC. Last crew member in, Bob Curving, in the MS2 seat. I've got you here. I'll give you a step 570 to work for us if you want. They've performed a fuel cell purge on channel 153. Okay, and we'll put that into work as well. QC there? The fuel is all we've got. Copy. We're at range weather. We're at low constraint to launch. And how's the manager? Manager, we're not, the MFT is not tracking anything. And it looks like we're going for launch. You're clear to proceed with launch counts. Copy that. And discovery looks like everything is ready to go. You guys have a great mission and we'll see you back here. It's good colors for the mission. And NPD, you are clearly launched. My profile test of the orbiter's aero surfaces has started. The orbiter flight control services are being moved through a pre-programmed pattern to verify they are ready for launch. And the three main engines will be gimbled in position for launch. And flight crew, close and lock your visors, initiate 02-flow. On behalf of the launching, good luck with your mission. And Romo, happy birthday. We're about to light your candles. Thanks for that birthday wish. It'll be the two best candles I ever had. I discovered copy visors in 02-flow. You're left to go for ET, LAT2 pressure 6. 10, 9, 8. We have a go for main engine start. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Booster ignition and liftoff of discovery on a mission to study planet Earth. Houston is now controlling. The roll maneuver is complete and discovery is now in a heads down wings level position headed to a 160 nautical mile orbit. All three main engines now throttling down to 67% of rated thrust as the orbiter passes through the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure on the vehicle in the lower regions of the Earth's atmosphere. Telemetry indicates all three auxiliary power units and fuel cells continuing to perform well.