Top > World > 2005 > July > 2005-07-13

Discovery still to launch

The space shuttle discovery is still set to take off on July 13 for the first shuttle mission since the Columbia broke up upon re-entry over two years ago even though one of the side panels was damaged by a falling window cover.

NASA officials said the "soft" cover had fallen off by itself at about 1700 Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday during routine work at launch pad 39B, where Discovery is being readied for launch. The Shuttle Discovery is due to launch from Kennedy Space Center a little before 4pm Florida time on Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier, NASA administrator Dr Mike Griffin had given a press conference outlining the importance of launching the shuttle.

"There is no recovery from the mistakes we`ve made, whether it`s going back to the Apollo fire, the loss of Challenger, or the loss of Columbia, going back to go through 100 years of flight, the lessons that we who fly know are written in other people`s blood," he told reporters at Nasa`s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.