Space History Photo: STS-70 Mating

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Discovery goes through the meticulous process of being prepared for liftoff on Mission STS-70 in early June of 1995. (Image credit: NASA.)

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building, workers carry out the meticulous process of lifting the orbiter Discovery from a horizontal to a vertical position. Once upright, Discovery will be transferred into a high bay for mating with the external tank/solid rocket booster assembly already mounted on the mobile launcher platform.

Completing the assembly process takes about five working days. Discovery's next destination is Launch Pad 39B, and final preparations will be completed for liftoff on Mission STS-70 in early June.

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

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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.