Shuttle escapes serious damage

DISCOVERY seems to have been spared serious damage from the foam shrapnel that flew off the fuel tank during take-off.

NASA said yesterday that Discovery appears in good enough shape for a safe return in just over a week.

The shuttle docked at the international space station after performing an unprecedented back flip to allow those aboard the outpost to photograph the shuttle's belly for damage.

Commander Eileen Collins manually steered the shuttle's nose up, slowly flipped the spacecraft over and locked onto the station.

The docking came after a huge setback Wednesday, when NASA decided to ground future shuttle flights because a chunk of insulating foam flew off Discovery's fuel tank during lift-off as it did in Columbia's doomed mission. This time, the foam apparently missed the spacecraft.

Despite attention to the agency's decision to ground future missions, NASA's focus remains on Discovery's mission and bringing its crew home at the end of its 12-day mission.