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Shuttle Discovery blasts into orbit
ELUSIVE PROBLEM The shuttle's launch was delayed for two weeks while engineers searched for the cause of an elusive problem with one of the ship's hydrogen fuel-level sensors. The sensor glitch canceled Discovery's first launch attempt on July 13 and briefly overshadowed the fear of falling debris that had preoccupied NASA engineers for more than two years. During Tuesday's countdown, however, all the sensors worked perfectly. Even Florida's normally fickle summer weather cooperated and Discovery blasted off smoothly, its two solid rocket boosters pouring out 6.5 million pounds (3 million kg) of thrust and enough energy to light 87,000 homes for a day. Crowds of onlookers, including first lady Laura Bush and President George W. Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, held their breath during the critical first two minutes of flight, then cheered when launch commentators announced that the shuttle had safely separated from the boosters. The shuttle arced over the Atlantic Ocean, and settled into its planned preliminary orbit just under 9 minutes later after reaching a speed of up to 17,400 mph (28,205 kph). The launch was scrutinized by 112 cameras, and an array of radars, sensors and other imaging equipment so that NASA can assess how well the newly modified external fuel tank worked. It was foam from the tank that damaged Columbia. The cameras captured something falling off as the shuttle climbed, but NASA managers said it would be a while before they could determine whether it was significant or not. The object could simply have been a paper cover that is meant to fall off, said Wayne Hale, deputy shuttle program manager. The shuttle crew's first task will be to use a new 50-foot (15-metre) extension to the spaceship's robot arm to survey its nose and the leading edges of its wings for damage. Discovery's launch was also monitored by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and U.S. astronaut John Phillips on the International Space Station. The shuttle, carrying Collins, pilot Jim Kelly, Japan's Soichi Noguchi and astronauts Charles Camarda, Steve Robinson, Andy Thomas and Wendy Lawrence, was scheduled to reach the orbital outpost on Thursday for a week-long stay. The shuttle's return to flight after a long hiatus also marks the beginning of the end for the aging spacecraft. President Bush has instructed NASA to retire the shuttle fleet in 2010, after completion of the space station, and to design a new generation of space craft capable of returning humans to the moon and of taking them to Mars and beyond.
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