Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Shuttle Rolls Out for Science Mission
The space shuttle Columbia rolled to the launch pad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center to await liftoff on a science mission chartered by Germany. The liftoff is set for Feb. 25. The mission is to last nine or 10 days and will feature research by two German scientists among a crew of seven astronauts. It will be the 54th flight of a shuttle but only the second time in 12 years that science work has been directed from outside the United States. A payload command center has been established near Munich, Germany, for this flight.
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