Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Pliers Found Stuck on Shuttle Booster

NASA scrambled to explain how the space shuttle Discovery lifted off with a pair of pliers stuck on a rocket booster. With Discovery’s ozone survey mission in its seventh day, officials said the pliers posed no danger during liftoff. But the mistake prompted embarrassed space officials to open an investigation and to tighten the rules for how launch pad workers use tools. Officials said they were amazed that the pliers remained wedged in a metal pocket on the outside of the base of one of the two solid-fuel boosters. The twin boosters peeled away from Discovery two minutes into the flight, once emptied of their fuel. They slammed into the ocean east of Jacksonville, Fla., and were towed by ship 175 miles back to Cape Canaveral, Fla. That’s when the pliers were found.