Blast off: Shuttle returns to space

SPACE shuttle Discovery and seven astronauts blasted off yesterday on America’s first manned space shot since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

The launch ended a painful, two-and-a-half-year shut-down devoted to making the shuttle less risky and NASA more safety-conscious. NASA's chief acknowledged a lot is riding on the flight: the shuttle programme, the space station programme, US President George W Bush's plan to send astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars and seven lives. "Our long wait may be over. So on behalf of the many millions of people who believe so deeply in what we do, good luck, Godspeed and have a little fun up there," launch director Mike Leinbach told the astronauts before lift-off.

Space programme employees and relatives of both the Discovery and Columbia crews watched nervously as the shuttle rose from its pad at 10.39am local time (3.39pm Irish time), climbed into a hazy midsummer sky, pierced two decks of clouds, and headed out over the ocean in the most scrutinised launch in NASA history.

Two chase planes and more than 100 cameras documented the ascent from every possible angle to capture any sign of flying debris of the sort that doomed the last flight.

Video showed what appeared to be a large piece of debris flying off the external fuel tank two minutes into the flight. The object did not seem to hit the orbiter. Footage also showed what might have been at least two light-colored objects flying off Discovery as the shuttle cleared the launch pad. Deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale raised the possibility that the light-colored objects were harmless pieces of paper that protect Discovery's thrusters before launch. But he insisted it was too soon to say what the cameras may have picked up, and he gave assurances the multitude of images will be examined frame by frame in the coming hours and days. The multitude of images will not be fully analysed and NASA will not give a final verdict on whether Discovery is safe to return to Earth until halfway through the 12-day flight. The fuel-gauge problem that thwarted a launch attempt two weeks ago did not resurface before lift-off, to NASA's great relief, and the countdown was remarkably smooth. The space agency had been prepared to bend its safety rules to get the shuttle flying. Columbia was brought down by a suitcase-size piece of foam insulation that broke off the big external fuel tank during liftoff and caused a gash that allowed hot gases into the wing during the return to Earth 16 days later on February 1, 2003.