The heat shield on the space shuttle Discovery looks to be in good shape, according to initial reports from NASA on Sunday.
Discovery launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., into the night sky Saturday on a mission to the International Space Station, in what was the first night liftoff in four years.
The space shuttle Discovery launches Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
(CBC)
"So far so good," said lead flight director Tony Ceccacci as the astronauts on Discovery finished an inspection of the shuttle on Sunday, looking for any possible damage from liftoff.
As expected, small pieces of foam and ice fell from the shuttle during the launch, but it was nothing to be concerned about as they didn't strike the craft itself, say officials. It will, however, be at least two days before engineers can rule out any damage, says NASA.
"The team sees nothing of concern at this time," said deputy shuttle program manager John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team.
The shuttle is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station Monday afternoon, more than 348 kilometres above the Earth.
During the 12-day mission, Discovery's astronauts will rewire the space station, bring up a new two-ton addition to the space lab and rotate out one of the station's three crew.
Wait and see
Earlier in the day Saturday, NASA said there was only a 30 per cent chance weather would co-operate for the 8:47 p.m. ET launch, but the forecast improved as the clock ticked down.
"Forty-eight hours makes a tremendous difference," launch director Mike Leinbach told the Discovery crew.
Commander Mark Polansky responded, "We look forward to lighting up the night sky."
After the shuttle reached its orbit, Mission Control told Discovery's crew that there were no initial reports of any serious problems and that the shuttle was "in great shape."
NASA had required daylight launches for the three flights after the 2003 Columbia accident to make sure the agency could get good daytime photos of the external fuel tank in case debris fell from it.
Foam breaking off the tank and striking Columbia's wing at liftoff led to the disaster that killed seven astronauts upon the shuttle's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
But NASA officials said they were comfortable with the acceptable levels of foam loss during the last two liftoffs and believe radar would spot pieces falling from Discovery's tank.
Fuel tank hurdles cleared
Up to the countdown, officials still had concerns about crosswinds at an emergency landing site and isolated showers. Low clouds block views of the space shuttle during launch and make an emergency landing more difficult.
The launch was NASA's second attempt to launch Discovery after bad weather forced a scrub Thursday. That countdown marched to the wire, with a worse than 50-50 chance all along the weather would co-operate. NASA aborted it in the last few minutes because of low clouds.
Each launch scrub costs the space agency $500,000.
Managers decided not to try again Friday because the forecast looked even worse.
NASA wants Discovery back from its mission by New Year's Eve because shuttle computers are not designed to make the change from the 365th day of the old year to the first day of the new year while in flight. The agency has developed a fix, but would prefer not to try it.
With files from the Associated PressRelated
Internal Links
More World Headlines »
- Hundreds pay tribute to fallen soldier at ramp ceremony
- A soldier wounded in the explosion that killed Canadian Trooper Richard Renaud was among the 1,500 who gathered at Kandahar airfield Wednesday to pay tribute to their fallen comrade.
- Kenyan police chase opposition protesters from streets
- Police fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands of protesters in several Kenyan cities on Wednesday at the start of three planned days of protests over disputed elections.
- Israeli air strike kills 3 Palestinian civilians
- An Israeli air strike in Gaza killed three Palestinian civilians, including a 13-year-old boy, according to witnesses and medics, in what the Israeli military said was an attack on the wrong car.
- Pope cancels university visit to avoid demonstrations
- The Pope's top aide said Wednesday that Benedict XVI's reason for cancelling a visit to a Rome university was that he did not want to create a pretext for further 'unpleasant' protests by professors and students opposed to the religious leader speaking at a secular campus.
- Colombian hostages detail suffering in 'proof of life' letters
- Letters from eight captive politicians, police and soldiers who have become pawns in a bitter conflict in Colombia show their heart-wrenching struggles to survive.
World Features
Blog Watch
Most Blogged about CBC.ca Articles
Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - link will open in new window
