SPACE shuttle Endeavour rocketed into orbit yesterday on what is likely to be the last night-time launch for the programme.

Winger Keith Gillespie was today included in the Northern Ireland squad for the Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden.

A New York man who was fired by IBM for visiting an adult chat room at work is suing the company for $5m (€3.8m), claiming he is an internet addict who deserves treatment and sympathy.

Two women were questioned tonight about the murder of a builder stabbed after a Valentine’s Day party.

Two women and a man were being questioned today about the murder of a builder in Co Fermanagh.

THE astronaut watched by a spellbound world earlier this year carrying out a critical panel-beating repair job on the US space shuttle Discovery flies into Limerick this weekend on a less hazardous mission.

The space shuttle Discovery landed in California today, ending a tense mission that was fraught with problems.

After orbiting the Earth for nearly two weeks, astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery were told to circle the planet for another day as bad weather in Florida forced Nasa to delay today’s scheduled landing.

After orbiting the Earth for 13 days, astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery have been told to circle the planet once more early today as Nasa delayed their landing because of bad weather in Florida.

After circling the Earth for 13 days, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery powered up their spacecraft early today and awaited word from Mission Control to fire their braking rockets and head for home.

ASTRONAUTS completed flight control checks aboard space shuttle Discovery and practiced landing on a computer simulator as they made final preparations to return to Earth.

Space shuttle Discovery unhitched today from the orbital outpost its astronauts called home for nine days, readying itself for the long, dangerous journey back to Earth.

Nasa told space shuttle Discovery’s astronauts today that a spacewalk to repair a torn thermal blanket will not be necessary.

With a gentle tug of his gloved right hand, Discovery astronaut Stephen Robinson removed two pieces of filler material from the shuttle’s underside in an unprecedented space repair job that drew a big sigh of relief from NASA.

A SPACEWALKING astronaut gently pulled two potentially dangerous strips of protruding filler from Discovery’s tile belly with his gloved hand yesterday, successfully completing an unprecedented emergency repair.

A spacewalking astronaut gently pulled two potentially-dangerous strips of protruding fabric from Discovery’s belly with his gloved hand today, successfully completing an unprecedented emergency repair job.

Armed with forceps and a makeshift hacksaw, a Discovery astronaut floated from the ship’s airlock today for an unprecedented spacewalk to eliminate a potential source of dangerous overheating during the shuttle’s re-entry.

Employing the kind of NASA ingenuity used to avert disaster on the Apollo 13 mission, an astronaut prepared for an emergency repair job on Discovery’s exterior today with forceps, scissors and a hacksaw fashioned out of a blade and duct tape.

DISCOVERY astronauts are today set to perform a high-stakes task that has never before been attempted: sending a spacewalker beneath the craft to repair material sticking out from the ship’s thermal tile belly.

Discovery’s astronauts are preparing for a high-stakes task that’s never before been attempted: sending a spacewalker beneath the craft to repair filler sticking out from ship’s thermal tile belly.

AS NASA mulled what to do about fabric dangling from Discovery’s belly, two astronauts floated outside yesterday with another key task: to replace a failed spinning wheel that helps to steer the international space station.

DISCOVERY commander Eileen Collins said from orbit yesterday that she was surprised that a large piece of foam broke away despite years of work to prevent such shedding in the wake of the Columbia tragedy.

DISCOVERY’S astronauts started to inspect their spaceship for launch damage yesterday, delicately operating a 100-foot movable arm with lasers and a camera mounted on its tip.

The Discovery space shuttle was being prepared for blast-off today, with NASA managers confident that last minute hitches would not delay tomorrow’s launch.