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Shuttle Discovery in Orbit

The Space Shuttle Discovery blasts into orbit on America's first shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster. The seven astronauts onboard will test new procedures for repairing the shuttle in orbit and deliver supplies to the space station.

The launch of Discovery was scrubbed two weeks ago because of a problem with the shuttle's fuel sensor system. Technicians were never able to figure out what the problem was. The sensors passed all of their tests this morning.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

David Kestenbaum is a correspondent for NPR, covering science, energy issues and, most recently, the global economy for NPR's multimedia project Planet Money. David has been a science correspondent for NPR since 1999. He came to journalism the usual way — by getting a Ph.D. in physics first.