Sen. Garn Gets Long-Delayed Ride : Discovery Shuttle Blasts Into Space

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. —  The space shuttle Discovery thundered through a cloudy sky today in a joint exhibition of technological prowess and political clout.

The spacecraft, whose crew includes Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah), the first elected official to travel into space, blasted off more than a month late and less than a minute before its launch window would have closed for the day.

Garn, chairman of the Senate committee that oversees the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s budget, had argued for four years that it would be in the space agency’s best interest for him to get a flight aboard a shuttle, and NASA finally saw it his way.

Numerous Delays

Garn, one of six men and one woman aboard the Discovery, was originally scheduled to fly aboard the shuttle Challenger last February. However, troubles with the Challenger’s heat-protection tiles forced NASA to substitute the Discovery and reset the flight for March 3. Other problems forced other delays, and the craft finally lifted off today at 5:59 a.m. PST.

The presence of water droplets at about 15,000 feet that could have damaged the shuttle’s protective tiles nearly forced postponement of the launch, but the moisture eased just as the launch window was about to close.

It was the first launch of a civilian shuttle mission since last November, ending at least for a while a series of nagging problems that have forced the program into extensive rescheduling.

“It seemed like a long dry spell until this morning, and then it looked like rain,” said Tom Utsman, director of shuttle operations at the Kennedy spaceport.

Considered Safe

Insisting that NASA’s crowded schedule had not forced the agency to compromise its own safety guidelines in launching despite the weather, Utsman said, “We did it with 55 seconds to spare, but it wasn’t brinkmanship.”

During the five-day flight, the crew is scheduled to launch two commercial satellites and carry out several experiments. Garn, who is listed as a “payload specialist,” has several responsibilities, including getting sick. Experiments aimed at shedding new light on an old subject--space sickness--will rely on the senator’s ability to prove his susceptibility.

He has indicated on several occasions that he expects to succeed in that effort.

The Discovery is scheduled to land at Kennedy early Wednesday morning on its 79th orbit. The crew includes Discovery commander Karol J. Bobko, 47; pilot Donald E. Williams, 42; M. Rhea Seddon, 37; S. David Griggs, 45; Jeffrey A. Hoffman, 40, and Charles Walker, 36.