Shuttle Off for 16 Days of Fire Watching

The space shuttle Columbia soared through a brilliant blue sky Friday with a crew of seven astronauts who are scheduled to set as many as 200 fires in orbit to observe how flames spread in weightlessness.

“Enjoy your on-orbit spring break,” launch control told the crew before liftoff.

Thirty-three laboratory experiments are planned for the 16-day mission, all of them considered prerequisites for the future international space station. The crew opened the laboratory for business 4 1/2 hours into the flight.

“My, there’s a lot of space back here,” astronaut Janice Voss said as she floated into the bus-sized lab.

The astronauts will use hot wires and fuels to ignite the fires, some as high as 4 inches. The flames will be contained in a triply insulated chamber. Scientists hope the fire experiments will yield cleaner and more efficient fuels and improved firefighting techniques in space and on Earth.

Also on board: about 50 spinach, clover, sage and periwinkle plants and pine seedlings in a miniature greenhouse, as well as various crystals and metals.

The plants are for experiments intended to benefit future space travelers. If astronauts ever are to live on the moon or fly to Mars, they will need to grow their own food.

Tens of thousands of people were on hand for Columbia’s afternoon send-off. The most prominent guest was Neil A. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. Also present was Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra.

The area was so jammed--primarily with tourists taking advantage of the Easter holiday and spring break--that roads leading into the Kennedy Space Center were blocked off 1 1/2 hours before liftoff. The convenient launch time, combined with ideal spring weather, contributed to the unusually large crowd.

Columbia pierced thin, wispy clouds in an otherwise vivid blue sky.

“I just can’t tell you how fantastic a ride it was for all of us here,” Cmdr. James Halsell Jr. told Mission Control.

The flight began a little late. Technicians at the launch pad had trouble conducting a leak check of Columbia’s cabin because of a small, O-ring seal on the hatch that became dislodged. Then engineers had to contend with a buildup of oxygen in the shuttle, a result of the prolonged leak check.

Columbia, NASA’s oldest shuttle, was supposed to take off Thursday, but the flight was delayed so thermal insulation could be installed on water pipes. To NASA’s embarrassment, Columbia had flown at least nine years without the insulation.

If water in the lines had frozen in orbit, the shuttle electronics could have been damaged, and the spacecraft could have been forced to make an emergency landing.

Columbia is scheduled to return to Earth on April 20.