Shuttle Discovery races skyward

[Salem6]

The Discovery orbiter has blasted away from the Kennedy Space Center - on a hot and sunny US Independence Day.



The shuttle left its Florida launch pad right on schedule at 1438 EDT (1838 GMT) and roared skywards to the cheers of spectators.

The vehicle's mission will take it to the International Space Station (ISS).

The shuttle flight is the first of 2006 and only the second since the catastrophic loss of the Columbia orbiter three years ago.

I can't think of a better place to be here on the Fourth of July

Commander Steve Lindsey
There was some concern among US space agency (Nasa) officials after several pieces of debris appeared to fall off the external fuel tank shortly after lift-off.

"About two minutes and 47 seconds, give or take, we saw three, perhaps four, pieces come off," said Wayne Hale, the shuttle programme manager.

He added that it was unclear whether the objects were insulating foam or "something else", but said it was too high to cause damage to the craft.

Tank changes

Tuesday's successful blast-off followed a frustrating weekend when stormy weather over Kennedy had scrubbed two attempted getaways.

DISCOVERY SHUTTLE FLIGHT

Mission known as STS-121
Discovery's 32nd flight
18th orbiter flight to ISS
Lift-off: 1438 EDT, 4 July
Location: Kennedy Space Center, Launch Pad 39B
Objective: To test new safety equipment and procedures
Payload: Cargo bay has 12.75t of equipment and supplies
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson, Sellers, Reiter


When a small breakage was then found in the insulating foam on Monday, there was concern that a further delay would be ordered.

But Nasa officials said the defect posed no risk to the vehicle and cleared Discovery to go for launch.

"Discovery's ready, the weather's beautiful, America is ready to return the space shuttle to flight. So good luck and Godspeed, Discovery," launch director Mike Leinbach said just before lift-off.

"I can't think of a better place to be here on the Fourth of July," radioed back Discovery's commander Steve Lindsey.

The orbiter's seven astronauts - five men and two women - are making the 115th flight of the American shuttle programme.

They are delivering almost 13 tonnes of equipment and supplies to the ISS. One of their number - German Thomas Reiter - will be staying aboard the orbiting platform when the others leave in just under two weeks.

In addition to servicing the ISS, the mission will test safety systems introduced following the destruction of Discovery's sister ship Columbia and the deaths of its crew in February 2003.

Columbia was struck on launch by a large piece of insulation foam that punctured a hole in its left wing and left it open to the destructive superheated gases of re-entry.

Nasa has redesigned the tank to try to minimise foam loss but admits some breakaway is inevitable whenever a shuttle makes the eight-and-a-half-minute ascent to orbit.

Boom check

Engineers will continue to scrutinise detailed photos of the latest lift-off to check on the structural integrity of Discovery.

And when the vehicle nears the space station on Thursday, it will perform a backflip so that the ISS crew can inspect further the shuttle's heat-resistant surfaces, particularly on its belly.



The mission is only the second since Columbia's loss in 2003


The mission has been designated STS-121. Apart from Lindsey and Reiter, the crew comprises pilot Mark Kelly and mission specialists Michael Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers.

Sellers, who was born in the UK, will lead two or three spacewalks, depending on the length of the mission.

At least one of the walks will be devoted to testing materials and repair techniques that could be used to fix the shuttle's surface tiles in the event of launch damage.

Sellers and Fossum also plan to test the shuttle's 15m-long (50ft) robot arm coupled with a new inspection boom, to see if they are steady enough to serve as a work platform in case astronauts have to make repairs on the ship's underside.

The current mission plan has Discovery coming back to the Kennedy Space Center on 16 July.


















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Astronauts on the shuttle Discovery are carrying out their first spacewalk.



The British-born astronaut Piers Sellers and colleague Mike Fossum are to carry out repairs to the exterior of the International Space Station.

They are also testing a boom-arm which Nasa hopes future missions could use to go under a shuttle to carry out inspections and repairs.

The spacewalk, the first of three planned for the mission, is expected to last about six-and-a-half hours.

It is Fossum's first spacewalk. Sellers did one on a previous shuttle mission, in 2002.

'Big stick'

"Enjoy the view, gentlemen!" NASA communicator Megan McArthur said from Houston, as the two men stepped through the airlock.

Both men have practised the walk back on Earth, in a virtual reality simulation and in the US space agency's (Nasa) Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.

DISCOVERY SHUTTLE FLIGHT

Mission known as STS-121
Discovery's 32nd flight
18th orbiter flight to ISS
Lift-off: 1438 EDT, 4 July
Location: Kennedy Space Center, Launch Pad 39B
Objective: To test new safety equipment and procedures
Payload: Cargo bay has 12.75t of equipment and supplies
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson, Sellers, Reiter


The latter is a giant swimming pool that goes some way to replicating the "weightless" conditions of space.

Of particular interest will be the boom tests. The shuttle's 15m-long (50ft) robot arm will be coupled to a new 15m-long inspection rod.

The astronauts will bounce up and down on the extension to see if it is strong enough to serve as a work platform in case astronauts one day have to make repairs on a shuttle's belly.

"It's essentially one big stick," Sellers told the BBC News website before launch. "We're going to stand on the end of that and do a whole lot of variations."

The ISS repairs involve cabling work on a mobile transporter system on the exterior of the station.

Discovery docked with the ISS on Thursday and on Friday attached an Italian-built cargo module.

The mission will deliver almost 13 tonnes of supplies and equipment. In addition to food, clothing and other essentials, Discovery has brought a freezer for experiment samples, a European Space Agency (Esa) incubator to grow plants in space and a new oxygen generator so the station's crew size can eventually be doubled to six.



Sellers will test a robotic arm boom extension on the flight



Once all the new deliveries have been safely stowed aboard the ISS, the module will be loaded with rubbish for return to Earth.

One of Discovery's most important deliveries has been an astronaut: the German Thomas Reiter. He is going to stay on the ISS when the rest of the Discovery crew returns to the ground.

Reiter's presence on the platform brings the resident crew up to three - the first time this has happened since ISS numbers were reduced in the wake of the Columbia disaster in 2003.

The German becomes the first Esa astronaut to experience an extended tour on the orbital outpost.



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