Shuttle Blasts Off

[Venus]

Shuttle returns to space
NASA examining video of debris spotted during liftoff

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- Discovery roared into the skies over Florida Tuesday morning as NASA returned to shuttle space flight for the first time since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Under a blue sky, the spacecraft lifted off at 10:39 a.m. ET, as scheduled.

"Liftoff of space shuttle Discovery, beginning America's new journey to the moon, Mars and beyond," said George Diller, the voice of shuttle launch control.

The launch followed days of troubleshooting to fix a faulty fuel sensor in its external tank that led to cancellation of a planned launch on July 13.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/26/space.shuttle/index.html

[Venus]

Update:
Video of what appeared to be some kind of debris falling off Discovery during launch prompted questions that NASA officials said they couldn't immediately answer.
The NASA video showed the unidentified debris falling and not appearing to hit Discovery. Falling debris that struck the craft during liftoff was blamed for the eventual destruction of Columbia as it re-entered the atmosphere in February 2003.

I thought they waited all this time frame to make sure nothing would go wrong like this. I only hope the re-entry in 12 days goes smoothly too. Thus proving that NASA is ready to forge ahead in space again.

[Bob]

I think this is a case of people nit picking. Yeah stuff is supposed to fall off when your thrown into mach 3 from a standstill with all that vibrating and shaking. As long as nothing hit the wings ... its just a story for some reporter to write.

[trojanmiro]

i believe the movie apolo 13 was based ona true story. they made it back in a rock specimen so to speak. theres a space station out there. they can stay for a while till they build a new shuttle. no worries.