Horticultural research being carried out at Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) is headed for outer space.

SPACE shuttle Atlantis thundered off its seaside launch pad, rising atop a tower of smoke and flames as it left Earth on the final flight of the US space shuttle programme yesterday.

THE public will be able to watch a piece of history unfold today when the CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory screens live the last take-off of the space shuttle.