Shuttle Ready After Window Problem
Crowds Gather For Discovery's Launch, NASA's First Since 2003
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Play CBS Video Video Shuttle Mission Still Risky The Discovery will take off as the first shuttle mission since the Columbia tragedy two and a half years ago. Bob Orr reports on NASA's new safety measures and the risks of the mission.
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Video Discovery Go For Launch Barring bad weather, the light is green for Wednesday's shuttle launch. It is the first since the Columbia disaster two and a half years ago. Correspondent Stacy Case reports.
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Video Going Uphill Correspondent Dan Rather talks to veteran astronaut Eileen Collins, mother of two and commander of the space shuttle Discovery, about getting the ship to fly again.
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NASA Vehicle Manager Stephanie Stillson holds a model of Discovery as she points to the place where a window cover fell and damaged thermal tiles on the spacecraft. (AP)
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Discovery, on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral (AP)
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Discovery's crew (AP)
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Interactive Test Flights The shuttle program gets back off the ground as Discovery returns to space.
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Interactive Shuttle Era Follow the history of America's space shuttle program.
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Interactive Eye On Space Explore the mysteries of our solar system, galaxy and universe, and track the struggles and triumphs of human space exploration.
More than 100 cameras on the ground and aboard two planes will focus on Discovery as it climbs toward orbit, and spy satellites as well as astronauts on both the shuttle and the international space station will take their own pictures.
Engineers this time should be able to see damage if it occurs, reports Orr. While they've experimented with different repair technique, they will not be able to repair any significant damage in flight.
But the greatest technical change since the Columbia accident is the redesigned fuel tank, reports CBS News Correspondent Peter King.
"Before STS-107, we had debris coming off the tank that could be as large as two pounds or so," said flight director Paul Hill. Now he expects miniscule pieces of debris from the new tank, "about two-hundredths of a pound of foam" — much smaller than the five-pound piece that punched a hole in Columbia's wing two and a half years ago.
Discovery's crew of seven is slated to visit the international space station and test out some of the fixes made since the last space shuttle visit. The shuttle will spend more than a week at the space station, replenishing its cupboards and repairing broken equipment both inside and out.
"It will be a very exciting time. People's hearts are beating, we're getting excited about the upcoming flight," said Discovery commander Eileen Collins.
NASA managers agreed they were exuberant in the final days before launch.
"It's like Christmas is coming," Hale said.
CBS News Space Consultant William Harwood has covered America's space program full time for nearly 20 years, focusing on space shuttle operations, planetary exploration and astronomy. Based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood provides up-to-the-minute space reports for CBS News and regularly contributes to Spaceflight Now and The Washington Post.
©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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