Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Shuttle to Launch With Foreign Flavor
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Foreign-born astronauts will outnumber U.S.-born crew members for the first time on a U.S. space shuttle when Columbia blasts off today from the Kennedy Space Center. Two Italians, a Swiss and a Costa Rican-turned-American will join three U.S.-born astronauts on the 14-day mission. The countdown was disrupted when detergent spilled onto the shuttle’s external fuel tank and a solid-fuel rocket. Technicians washed the areas with water.
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