CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Discovery and seven astronauts roared into the night toward the crippled Hubble Space Telescope, ending an embarrassing string of launch delays for NASA.
The flawless launch came after nine postponements, a record for the space shuttle program."We appreciate your patience in hanging in there with us," launch director Dave King told the crew just before Sunday night's liftoff. "We hope you have a great mission to Hubble, and we'll see you back here before the next millennium."
"We have one request," replied commander Curtis Brown Jr. "We'd like you to send a note to Hubble to get ready, because we're on our way!"
It was NASA's last chance this year to send Discovery to Hubble's aid. One more postponement would have bumped the flight into January.
Everything came together, including the weather, and Discovery soared at 7:50 p.m.
Hubble was passing more than 370 miles above Africa when Discovery blasted off. The shuttle should catch up Tuesday with the $3 billion telescope, which has been out of service for the past month. Spacewalking astronauts should start making repairs on Wednesday.
NASA officials were thrilled to have a space shuttle aloft after five exasperating months of fixing flawed wires across a grounded fleet. Their victory was especially sweet because of Discovery's perfect condition in orbit.
"It was a difficult route to get here," said King. "It's been a while since we've done this, but it does make it even more satisfying."
Because of all the delays, Brown and his crew will be the first shuttle astronauts to spend Christmas in orbit. Discovery is due back on Dec. 27.
Discovery should have flown in October, but ran into all sorts of trouble: damaged wiring, a contaminated engine, a dented fuel pipe and, just last Thursday, welding concerns. Then rain and clouds interfered Friday and again Saturday.
In mid-November, as the delays mounted, Hubble's pointing system failed and all astronomical observations ceased.
With time running out, shuttle managers reconsidered their Saturday launch deadline, intended to avoid any potential Y2K problems. Although tests showed its computers to be Y2K compatible, NASA had not made the effort "to determine that we are compliant to fly through Y2K," said shuttle manager Donald McMonagle.
On Sunday, just hours before liftoff, NASA opted for one last shot.
It came down to waiting another month to fix Hubble and risking further damage to the telescope, McMonagle explained, or accepting the 1-in-200 chance that bad weather might force Discovery to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Dec. 29, the last possible day the shuttle can be up. Edwards is not as well equipped as Kennedy Space Center, the primary touchdown site.
"We will probably not land on the 29th, and if we do, the risk will have been justified," McMonagle said.
As it is, NASA had to cut two days off the 10-day mission and cancel one of four planned spacewalks. The fourth spacewalk involved putting thermal wrap on the peeling telescope; officials said that work can wait until the next repair mission in 2001.
All of the important repairs will be made: installing six new gyroscopes to steady the telescope for precision pointing, and putting in a new computer, data recorder, radio transmitter, fine guidance sensor, battery-voltage regulators and thermal shields.
The rejuvenated Hubble will be released back into space on Christmas Day. And if all goes well, the telescope will be back in business two weeks later.
"This will make for an especially great holiday season," said King.
The shuttle Discovery lights up a marina in Titusville, Fla., as it heads skyward after its launch from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Sunday. It's taken NASA 10 attempts to get the shuttle, with a crew of seven, away on a mission to repair the crippled Hubble space telescope.