Discovery headed for space

Published: Jul 26, 2005
Source: www.cnn.com



KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- The space shuttle Discovery roared into the skies over Florida Tuesday morning as NASA returned to manned space flight for the first time since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

The spacecraft blasted off as scheduled at 10:39 a.m. ET, following days of troubleshooting to fix a faulty fuel sensor in its external tank.

A fuel sensor problem that scrubbed the shuttle's liftoff nearly two weeks ago did not recur Tuesday, NASA said.

Discovery crew members, who awoke after midnight, appeared at a traditional photo opportunity wearing matching Hawaiian shirts in the crew dining room as astronaut Steve Robinson strummed a guitar. Later the crew donned space suits for their journey and, by 8:22 a.m. ET, all seven were aboard and strapped in.continue..