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The Space Shuttle Columbia clears the tower following an on-time liftoff at 3:18:00 p.m. EST, February 22, 1996, from Launch Pad 39B. Visible at lower left is the white room on the orbiter access arm through which the flight crew entered the orbiter earlier. On board Columbia for a mission scheduled to last nearly 14 days are a crew of seven; Mission Commander Andrew M. Allen; Pilot Scott J. "Doc" Horowitz; Payload Commander Franklin R. Chang-Diaz; Mission Specialists Maurizio Cheli, Jeffrey A. Hoffman and Claude Nicollier; and Payload Specialist Umberto Guidoni. Cheli and Nicollier represent the European Space Agency (ESA) while Guidoni represents the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Space Shuttle Mission STS-75 will be highlighted by the re-flight of the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1R) and the third flight of the U.S. Microgravity Payload (USMP-3).