October 20, 1995
Web posted at: 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 GMT)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- The crew of shuttle Columbia finally made it into space Friday morning, after six previously scheduled launch attempts were delayed. The seven astronauts blasted off at 9:53 a.m. EDT on their 16-day scientific mission. (1M QuickTime movie)
NASA's waiting game began with a leak around Columbia's main fuel valve. Then hurricane Opal put a hold on the launch. Next, sluggish hydraulics grounded the third launch attempt and seven days later, a computer glitch pushed launch day back to last weekend. An inspection for potential engine cracks and then bad weather forced a sixth delay which tied Columbia's own record.
The crew's mission will focus on the $100 million microgravity laboratory, which first flew on the orbiter in a 1992 mission.
In near weightlessness, astronauts will conduct dozens of experiments in areas like protein crystal growth. "The reason we do protein crystal growth is to be able to find out what the protein looks like in order to find a cure for a disease," said Catherine Coleman, mission specialist.
It may sound like high-brow science, but crew members say these missions are relevant to people's everyday lives. "The consistency that we're doing in the research is paying off and there's going to be a major breakthrough in one of these fields from doing the science in orbit," said Kent Rominger, shuttle pilot.
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