Stock Photo - 06/02/1998 ___ Some of Florida´s natural foliage stands silent sentinel to the lift off of the Space Shuttle Discovery from Launch Pad 39A at 6:06:24 p.m. EDT June 2. On board Discovery are Mission Commander Charles J. Precourt, Pilot Dominic L. Gorie, and Mission Specialists Wendy B. Lawrence, Franklin R. Chang_Diaz, Janet Lynn Kavandi and Valery Victorovitch Ryumin. The nearly 10_day mission will feature the ninth and final Shuttle docking with the Russian space station Mir, the first Mir docking for the Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery, the first on_orbit test of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS, and the first flight of the new Space Shuttle super lightweight external tank. Astronaut Andrew S. W. Thomas will be returning to Earth as a STS_91 crew member after living more than four months aboard Mir