Space shuttle Discovery soars on 3rd launch try

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – The U.S. space shuttle
Discovery blasted off from its seaside Florida launch pad on
Tuesday on a do-or-die mission for NASA’s beleaguered shuttle
program and the half-built International Space Station.

The shuttle and its seven-member crew lifted off at 2:38
p.m. EDT (1838 GMT), following two postponements over the
weekend because of poor weather at the Kennedy Space Center.

“America is ready to return the space shuttle to flight,”
launch director Mike Leinbach said shortly before the 115th
shuttle mission and the second flight since the 2003 Columbia
disaster blasted off.

Officials said there were no initial signs of serious
problems with the shuttle’s foam insulation, which has plagued
NASA in recent years and caused the deadly breakup of the
shuttle Columbia in 2003. Further examination was scheduled for
later Tuesday.

NASA needs a successful mission to resume construction of
the planned $100 billion space station, a project sponsored by
16 nations. Assembly of the outpost has been on hold since the
2003 Columbia disaster.

NASA had hoped to resume station construction last year
following the first post-Columbia mission but the shuttle’s
fuel tank, like the one on Columbia, shed large pieces of
insulating foam during launch. Managers grounded the fleet
again for repairs.

Columbia was destroyed when a 1.67-pound (756-gram) chunk
of foam broke off the fuel tank and smashed into the ship’s
left wing. The damage was undetected until after Columbia broke
apart 16 days later as it flew through the atmosphere, killing
all seven astronauts aboard.

Another accident or serious problem on the current shuttle
mission could ground the fleet permanently.

NASA will get a preliminary look at how Discovery’s tank
fared during launch later Tuesday when imaging experts pore
over hundreds of photographs and videotapes taken during the
shuttle’s climb into orbit.

SOME FOAM LOSS EXPECTED

NASA managers said several pieces of foam fell off the
external fuel tank during launch but by then the shuttle was
beyond the point in its flight where they could be a hazard to
the spacecraft.

“This isn’t too abnormal,” said Bill Gerstenmaier,
associate administrator for spaceflight. “We fully expected to
lose some foam.”

Any flyaway foam was expected to be small and of no
consequence to the shuttle. Work remains on one area of the
tank foam and the agency’s top engineer and chief of safety had
wanted to postpone Discovery’s launch until after the work was
done.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, however, decided to
proceed with launch, knowing that the shuttle crew could be
housed aboard the space station if their ship was hit by debris
and sustained damage too severe to return home safely.

Delaying Discovery’s launch, Griffin said, would put too
much pressure on the shuttle program, which needs to fly 16
missions to the station to complete construction before 2010.

On Wednesday, the Discovery crew will begin detailed
examinations of their ship’s heat shield for signs of damage
from debris impacts. The astronauts will use a sensor-laden
boom to scan the shuttle’s wings and nose-cap, areas that are
particularly vulnerable to damage.

The space station crew also will photograph and videotape
the heat-resistant tiles on the shuttle’s belly as Discovery
approaches the space station for docking on Thursday.

NASA already has spent about $1.3 billion fixing the
shuttle’s fuel tank and developing other safety upgrades since
the Columbia accident. The agency has no more time or money to
spend on major refurbishments if additional problems are
discovered.

Shuttle commander Steve Lindsey, 45, pilot Mark Kelly, 42,
and mission specialists Mike Fossum, 48, Lisa Nowak, 43,
Stephanie Wilson, 39, and British-born American Piers Sellers,
51, waved small American flags as they headed from their
quarters to the launch pad, marking the U.S. Independence Day.

Thomas Reiter, 48, of Germany, waved a German flag. He will
be the first European to live on the space station and is
scheduled to return home with another shuttle crew in December.