Astronauts board Shuttle amid storm threats

Space shuttle Discovery’s seven astronauts arrived at the launch pad under a drizzle today and began boarding the spacecraft for the first such flight in two-and-a-half years, although thunderstorms threatened to force a postponement.

Discovery and its crew of seven were set to blast off at 3:51pm local time (7.51pm GMT) on a mission to take supplies to the international space station and test new techniques for inspecting and patching the shuttle in orbit.