NATION IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Repair Spacewalk Appears Less Likely

Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia collected reams of medical data, and engineers were increasingly confident an emergency spacewalk will not be needed to fix a broken cargo bay seal. Chief flight director Randy Stone at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., said analysis indicated Columbia’s 60-foot-long cargo bay doors will close properly for re-entry next week despite a strip of pulled-up weather stripping. Rats aboard the shuttle appeared to be enjoying space, “floating around and having a good time, doing somersaults and getting quite used to zero gravity,” a crew member reported. The rats will be dissected in a study on weightlessness.