No Problems For Historic Shuttle Launch

Security was at an all-time high as NASA launched Columbia into orbit with Israel's first astronaut aboard, but the space shuttled lifted off right on time.

About 300 Israelis were in town for the flight of Ilan Ramon, a colonel in his country's air force and a former fighter pilot. At Tel Aviv University in Israel, students stopped what they were doing and cheered the launch.

"This is such an exciting time for us...he makes us so proud," Israel's ambassador to the United States, Danny Ayalon, said at a reception for Israelis on Wednesday evening at a heavily guarded hotel. He had this message for Ramon and his six U.S. shuttle crewmates: "God bless you and may you go in peace. Shalom."

CBS News Correspondent Peter King reports the security included the Air Force, Coast Guard, NASA's own security, and hundreds of local law enforcement officers.

CBS News Space Consultant Bill Harwood reports Ramon will try to keep kosher and observe the Sabbath during the flight.

"All that food has to approved by NASA and prepared specially for use on the shuttle, but he said he is going to try to observe [the kosher laws] and have some joint meals together in the sense of the Sabbath," said Harwood.

However, there's a sunrise and sunset about every 90 minutes when the shuttle is in orbit.

"All those sunsets and sunrises up in space every single day, it doesn't work as it does on the earth, but he's going to make a symbolic effort to honor some of those traditions," Harwood said.

Ramon's wife, Rona, admitted to some nervousness and said she can't wait to see the mission end, after a series of launch delays spanning nearly two years.

"I don't want to talk about fear. We're not talking about fear. I'm sure NASA is doing everything that is possible not to take any risk and any chances," she said, adding, "The most calm and relaxed person is Ilan."

As has been the custom for every shuttle liftoff since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Air Force patrolled NASA's launch site on the lookout for any stray planes or other intruders. The no-fly zone extended the usual 35 miles, but took effect three hours earlier to accommodate the loading of explosive hydrogen fuel into Columbia. Fueling got under way early Thursday.

Offshore, boats were ordered to stay away.

The head of the Israel Space Agency said he was impressed by all the security. When he went to a local restaurant one night this week, he was escorted by two policemen. "I felt like the prime minister," said Aby Har-Even, the agency's director general.

Columbia's flight initially was targeted for mid-2001 but was repeatedly delayed, most recently by the grounding of the entire space shuttle fleet last summer. Columbia's 16-day round-the-clock research mission was bumped from July to January, behind a pair of critical space station construction jobs.

It is the first time in three years that NASA is launching a shuttle that is not going to the international space station or working on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Sixteen days is a long duration flight by shuttle standards, says Harwood.

"The crew is going to work in two shifts, so it's a 24/7 operation. They'll get a bit of data out of that," he said. "It's not as good as being up there for six months on the station, but they'll still get a lot of useful data on the long-term effects of weightlessness."

One of the primary experiments is sponsored by the Israel Space Agency. Onboard cameras will measure desert dust in the atmosphere to gauge the effect on climate change.

"There are quite a few critters on board, many of them from student-sponsored experiments," said Harwood. "There are silkworms on board, carpenter bees from Europe, there's an ant colony on this flight, believe it or not, from my high school in New York, pretty much just studying the effects of weightlessness on animal behavior and development. It's pretty interesting stuff."

Altogether, more than 80 experiments from around the world are planned.

CBS News Space Consultant William Harwood has covered America's space program full time for more than 15 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.