Discovery launch gains 'good report'

The launch of Space Shuttle Discovery has received a 'good report' following initial inspections of photographs of the lift-off.

At an evening press conference late on Tuesday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Nasa Shuttle Programme Manager Wayne Hale said. "I have a good report. The tank performed very, very well indeed."

Initial analysis of detailed photographs taken during Discovery's ascent, revealed just a few debris particles were shed by the huge insulation-clad external fuel tank, which supplies liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to the shuttle's three main engines during the climb to orbit.

The debris observed was reported to be small, and all occurred after what engineers consider to be the most aerodynamically sensitive time for the shuttle.

Some 15 minutes into the flight, astronauts on board Discovery filmed a large piece of ice tumbling away from the orbiter. However, the ice, which forms on the cooled exterior of the main engines is not unusual and is not a cause for concern said Nasa.

The crew of Discovery will take a closer look at crucial areas of the heat shield using a boom sensor system and will also roll the orbiter in a slow back flip so that photographs may be taken from the International Space Station.

The 12-day STS-121 flight of Discovery is the second in NASA's Return to Flight sequence.

The crew, Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly, and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers, will test new safety equipment and procedures that were introduced on the first Return to Flight mission last summer.

They also will deliver over 12 tonnes of equipment, supplies, experiments and spare parts to the station. A third crew member, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, will be placed aboard the orbiting laboratory.

In a curtailed programme since the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003, the station has had two-person crew aboard.

(SP/KMcA)