The space shuttle Discovery leaving the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 24th, 1990. Mission STS-31 carries the Hubble Space Telescope. Once in orbit it will be able to view objects 50 times fainter and 7 times more distant than is possible with existing ground based optical telescopes. Crew members are Commander Loren J. Shriver; Pilot Charles F. Bolden Jr.; and Mission Specialists Kathryn D. Sullivan, Steven A. Hawley, and Bruce McCandless II.