Discovery's final launch a few days ago on February 24th went extremely well, which was a great sight to see on her last launch ever. With just Endeavour and Atlantis left to fly one last mission each, this is the perfect time to pay close attention to what's going on with the Shuttle program details. One great way is to monitor the live stream at nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv. This is an amazing resource of live action and fresh recorded material that takes you up close to the inner workings of launch control, mission control, and the astronauts on both the Shuttle and the ISS. Obviously a great resource for re-entry and landing as well... you can also keep an eye on this STS-133 page for landing schedule updates.

 I've pulled together 4 different videos worth checking out, especially if you enjoy looking at the details of the launch process like I do. The first three offer different views of the launch of Discovery last Thursday, and the last one is a short but very close and loud IMAX segment of a previous launch.

 The first one above is pretty amazing actually. It's taken from an airliner that was passing by that provided a great view and perspective of the rapid ascent of the Shuttle. I especially like how the cockpit makes the anouncement about the launch saying: "people on the right side of the airplane can see the Space Shuttle, and those of you on the left side of the aircraft can probably see the people on the right side of the aircraft looking at the Space Shuttle" (!)

3 more videos below