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NASA moved miles closer to the liftoff of STS-121 when Space Shuttle Discovery

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rolled out to its launch pad in preparation for the upcoming flight.

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Targeted for launch in July, Discovery is set to bring crewmembers and supplies to the

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International Space Station and test new space shuttle equipment and procedures.

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The rollout to the pad came only a week after the space shuttle was moved from its hangar and

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attached to the twin solid rocket boosters and orange fuel tank.

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In the early afternoon of May 19, a crawler transporter carried Discovery out of

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Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building and headed to a seaside launch pad.

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The crawler transporter is more than 100 feet wide and shouldered 12 million pounds during the journey.

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Moving at a careful 1 mile an hour, the transporter took nearly 8 hours to carry

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Discovery over the crushed-rock crawlerway to its destination.

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The final yards of the 4.2-mile rollout ferried the ship up a concrete ramp,

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raising Discovery 55 feet to its final point of departure atop Launch Pad 39B.

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