Shuttle Blasts Into Orbit on Science Mission
The space shuttle Columbia roared into orbit Monday with seven astronauts on a German science mission that had been delayed for months.
It was the mission’s third launch attempt in five weeks. “It finally worked!” said an exulted Reinhard Fiege, a German government research official who watched from Kennedy Space Center.
The astronauts quickly powered up the laboratory in Columbia’s cargo bay, where the medical, biological and other experiments will be conducted during the nine-day flight.
Payload commander Jerry Ross, one of five Americans aboard, was the first inside Spacelab, followed by German astronaut Ulrich Walter.
By launching nine days after the shuttle Discovery returned from orbit, NASA broke the 1985 record for the shortest interval between U.S. human spaceflights.
The first countdown for the mission ended with an engine shutdown three seconds before liftoff last month because of a debris-clogged valve. A faulty navigation unit ruined the second launch attempt, on Saturday.
The mission was delayed earlier in the year by other shuttle trouble.
The science experiments are being managed from a control center in the Bavarian town of Oberpfaffenhofen.
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