Space History Photo: STS-56 Launch

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The successful second launch attempt of the Space Shuttle Discovery carried a crew of five and the ATLAS 2 into space. (Image credit: NASA.)

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, the second try works like a charm as the Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from Launch Pad 39B on Mission STS-56 at 1:29:00 a.m., EDT, Apr. 8, 1993. The first attempt to launch Discovery on its 16th space voyage was halted at T-11 seconds on April 6.

Aboard for the second Space Shuttle mission of 1993 are a crew of five and the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science 2 (ATLAS 2), the second in a series of missions to study the sun's energy output and Earth's middle atmosphere chemical makeup, and how these factors affect levels of ozone.

Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).

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U.S. Space Agency

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U.S. government agency in charge of the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Founded in 1958, NASA is a civilian space agency aimed at exploring the universe with space telescopes,  satellites, robotic spacecraft, astronauts and more. The space agency has 10 major centers based across the U.S. and launches robotic and crewed missions from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. It's astronaut corps is based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. To follow NASA's latest mission, follow the space agency on Twitter or any other social channel, of visit: nasa.gov.