Space Shuttle Discovery Takes Off Today

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.--Discovery's five astronauts, anxious to break an agonizing 32-month drought in American spaceflight, were "elated to be headed for space" yesterday as the overnight countdown began for a midmorning launch today.

NASA officials were admittedly nervous, but confident. "The space shuttle is ready to fly," said Shuttle Administrator Richard Truly, adding, "Even the weather is looking good."

Late Wednesday night, Air Force weather spokesman Mike Beeman estimated there was a 90 percent chance the weather would permit a launch today. But he said winds that were currently 10 knots out of the north were expected to shift to eastnortheast by morning, which would blow across the landing runway. Launch criteria allows no more than a 12-knot crosswind, in case the orbiter must return for an emergency landing.

"We're real concerned about what those winds are going to do tomorrow morning," Beeman said. "It's something we're watching real, real closely."

The ship, obscured for weeks behind a giant scaffold, stood in full view after NASA retracted the structure. The process took place hours early, so "workers will have a head start" on final countdown procedures. The count resumed at midevening yesterday after a daylong, scheduled hold.

"This has been a long two years," Truly said of the difficult period since the Challenger accident in 1986. Liftoff was scheduled for 9:59 a.m. EDT.

NASA's deputy administrator Dale Myers exulted that "we have been working two years to put the shuttle back in business and tomorrow is the day we plan to do that." He said "it's really the beginning of the future for our space program."

The four-day Discovery mission will be the first shuttle flight since Challenger exploded in a fireball 73 seconds after liftoff from the same launch pad on Jan. 28, 1986. The accident ceded manned space to the Soviet Union, which has put 16 cosmonauts into orbit since then, aboard six flights.

Asked what would be going through his mind as the count ticks down, the center's deputy director, Tom Utsman, said, "I'll be saying that hopefully we have done all the right things, that we haven't taken any shortcuts, that we haven't overlooked anything."

"I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't nervous," he said. "But I also am confident."

As a result of investigations since the accident, the shuttle fleet and NASA's management have undergone major changes. The shuttle itself has had 210 modifications, including the addition of an escape system that would enable the crew to bail out if the ship had to ditch in the ocean. The escape system would not have saved the Challenger crew.

The shuttle booster rockets, blamed for the Challenger tragedy, have undergone an $800 million redesign.

Because of the many changes, Hauck said the mission is considered a test flight. "We'll probably see some surprises, but I don't think they'll be life-threatening surprises," he said.

America's space future could depend on a safe mission. "We have to be successful," said Kennedy Space Center director, Forrest McCartney. "The nation could not withstand another accident like Challenger."

Two problems that surfaced in recent days appeared to be resolved.

One had to do with a booster rocket being readied for a twin of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite the Discovery crew is to launch six hours after liftoff. A cut on a small sealing O-ring on the booster rocket, destined for flight next February, was found to have a tiny cut -- apparently caused by a metal burr.

The other snag involved the scraping off of a layer of paint on one of Discovery's small jet thrusters used to position the shuttle in orbit. But it was found that underlayers of the thermal paint were intact, and that the thruster could be bypassed if need be.