Astronauts check on shuttle launch damage

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.

NASA engineers, meanwhile, tried to determine whether an apparently chipped thermal tile on the belly of the shuttle poses any danger to the spacecraft and its crew of seven.

Discovery lifted off on Tuesday on the first shuttle flight since the Columbia tragedy two-and-a-half years ago. The movable boom operated by the astronauts via remote control from inside was added to the shuttle after Columbia was destroyed by damage to its thermal shield at liftoff.