Space Shuttle Discovery Blasts Off For International Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Discovery's astronauts steered closer to the international space station for a Sunday linkup, while checking their ship for any signs of launch damage.

The routine survey began early Saturday evening and lasted well into the night.

NASA officials say no fuel tank debris was observed hitting Discovery during Friday's midnight liftoff. But the shuttle's most vulnerable areas – the wings and nose – still needed to be checked with lasers and cameras on a boom attached to the robot arm. The images were beamed down for analysis.

In addition, the shuttle's underside will be photographed in detail by the space station residents Sunday night, right before the two craft meet.

A hole in the wing brought down Columbia six years ago. Ever since, NASA has been vigilant in seeking out indications of serious launch damage.

Discovery is loaded with supplies for the space station, now home to six astronauts. Once the seven shuttle fliers arrive, it will make for a record-tying crowd.

"It's great to be back in space," Discovery's commander, Rick Sturckow, said Saturday afternoon.

"Micro G is great," rookie astronaut Jose Hernandez noted in his first Twitter update from space. The Mexican-American grew up in a migrant worker family and applied for 12 straight years to become an astronaut, before getting picked in 2004. "Settling in and realizing my dream," he wrote.

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Discovery's supply run will leave the space station well stocked; the shuttle is hauling about 17,000 pounds of equipment and science experiments. Six mice, part of a bone loss study, will move in for a three-month stay. So will astronaut Nicole Stott, the replacement for an astronaut who has been at the orbiting complex for more than a month.

Stott will help put together a brand new $5 million treadmill flying up on Discovery that will expand the space station's gym. The treadmill, currently in more than 100 pieces, is named after Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert. Earlier this year, he won an online vote for naming rights to a space station room, but NASA picked the name Tranquility instead and offered him the running machine.

The launch of the COLBERT treadmill – officially the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill – was mentioned prominently on the Colbert Nation web site Saturday. "The universe just got a little bit slimmer," a headline teased.

The workout machine won't see action anytime soon. Stott and her station roommates won't have time to assemble it until sometime after the mid-September arrival of a new Japanese cargo ship.

Discovery, meanwhile, was reported to be in good flying shape aside from a leaky thruster. The astronauts were advised to shut down the thruster – as well as a companion thruster in the nose – for the rest of the 13-day flight. Officials said it should have no impact on the mission.

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NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission(underscore)pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Colbert Nation: http://www.colbertnation.com/home

Comments

[guajiro]

I for one, think that the next goal ought to be populating MARS. Private enterprise can take over the exploitation of the moon while NASA concentrates on building a permanent housing on Mars. The gravity there is much closer to that of earth's, as compared to the moon, and building a giant greenhouse should alleviate the need for shuttle trips to provide oxygen. From a report I read years ago made by some astronauts, everything a human could need is already in mars. They have soil to build buildings, and the soil contains almost all the compounds needed to make other things. Different kinds of fungi, algae, and other hardy types of oxygen giving plants could be the first ones grown or cultivated while the first few trips take care of bringing supplies. Solar panels could provide electricity and the ice found there could be harvested and recycled.

[MichaelPack]

It really is a shame that the shuttle will be retired before NASA has a viable alternative, even if it is long overdue. Like successful airplane flights back here on Earth, shuttle lunches have become mundane, which is really a testament to it's success.

Leave it to NASA to produce a $5 million dollar monstrosity of a treadmill. You have to wonder how that was even possible to accomplish without a guided effort!

[jsarets]

Things like stationary bikes translate fairly easily to zero gravity. Designing a treadmill that works in zero gravity is not as straightforward if you think about it, and as a unique one-off product, the price tag includes the entire development process. I'm sure there are ordinary treadmills that cost just as much to produce the first unit.

[christianmama4change]

so sad to have missed it by a minute! got outside after it had disappeared into orbit! Godspeed all to the astronauts including the very touching story of the astronaut Jose Hernandez who used to be a migrant worker in Texas. All things are possible!