Discovery Crew Relaxes After Freeing Telescope

With their primary job accomplished, Discovery’s astronauts placed an ultraviolet telescope into orbit Tuesday and, after four tense days, finally relaxed in space.

The satellite release was almost an afterthought to Monday’s historic rendezvous between Discovery and Russia’s Mir station.

“I sent a message down to my wife . . . and said it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done with the exception of getting married and having two children,” said Commander James Wetherbee.

Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov, traveling with the American astronauts, released the shiny, copper-colored telescope from the end of the shuttle robot arm 240 miles above Brazil. The satellite promptly began focusing on interstellar gas and dust, the material from which new stars and planets form.

On Thursday, the crew will retrieve the telescope with the robot arm, and two spacewalking astronauts will practice lifting the 2,800-pound bundle before stowing it for the trip home.