Nearly two-and-a-half years after the space shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas while reentering Earth, a second fatal accident that killed all seven crew members, Discovery(STS-114) launched on July 26, 2005.
"Take note of what you saw here," then-NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told reporters, according to a 2005 CNN report. "The power and the majesty of the launch, of course, but also the competence and the professionalism, the sheer gall, the pluckiness, the grittiness of this team that pulled this program out of the depths of despair."
Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew launch on July 26, 2005, the first shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster.
