Discovery on Way to Space Station After Easy Launch ; Mission’s Success to Be Safe Return

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In its second rebirth since NASA began flying space shuttles a quarter century ago, the agency’s shuttle program sent Discovery thundering into orbit Tuesday, ending a 21/ 2ear hiatus caused when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re- entry.

Commander Eileen Collins and her six crewmates rode atop twin pillars of flame at 10:39 a.m., 13 days after their first attempt was postponed by a faulty fuel sensor in the shuttle’s external tank. The astronauts safely reached orbit 81/2 minutes ter.

The liftoff put the ship into the same orbital “plane” as the International Space Station, which at the moment of launch was 219 miles above the southern Indian Ocean west of Australia.

The astronauts will spend the next days performing a series of rocket firings to allow Discovery to catch up to the station in a lower, faster orbit.

The celebrations at Kennedy Space Center after launch, however, occurred with the knowledge that the success of this mission wouldn’t be complete until the shuttle returned home safely.

Columbia was destroyed and seven astronauts were killed 16 minutes prior to their scheduled landing, ending years of the presumption that the return to Earth had become routine and that liftoff was the only really dangerous part of the flight.