NASA Hails 2nd Perfect Shuttle Launch of Year

The shuttle Columbia soared through a clear sky and slipped into orbit Friday with five astronauts who will oversee projects similar to ones planned later this decade for a space station.

“See you in half a month,” shuttle commander John Casper told mission control.

The four men and one woman, all space veterans, began engineering and materials experiments and prepared the shuttle robot arm for upcoming magnetic tests during the 14-day mission.

NASA savored the right-on-the-mark launch, the second one this year. Mission managers delayed the flight for one day because of dangerously high winds Thursday, but the weather was ideal when the sun rose Friday.

It was especially gratifying coming after last year’s dismal launch record. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration struggled through 10 launch scrubs in 1993, including two engine shutdowns at the pad.

NASA’s oldest shuttle is making its 16th flight. Columbia already holds the record for the longest shuttle excursion--an hour longer than this scheduled 13-day, 23-hour voyage--but crew members are hoping to surpass that with a landing delay. One extra orbit on March 18 would do it.

Columbia holds more engineering and technology experiments than have ever flown on a shuttle, a NASA official said. The 11 primary experiments range from semiconductor production to metal melting to electric arcing--the kind of work planned for an international space station to be built beginning in 1997.

Nearly all of the major experiments will be operated from the ground. The astronauts will occupy themselves with medical tests, a new magnetic grappling system for the shuttle robot arm and small, snap-together structures that will be shaken to see how the pieces hold up under stress.

The astronauts will lower Columbia’s orbit from the present 184 miles to 120 miles by flight’s end so scientists can see how their experiments fare at different altitudes.