Launch Date Set for Science Flight of Shuttle Columbia
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The shuttle Columbia will take off March 21 on a science research flight chartered by Germany, NASA announced Friday.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said they had solved a string of technical problems that delayed the mission by its oldest shuttle for nearly a month.
Technicians working on Columbia most recently had to replace several aging hydraulic lines after one ruptured, spewing oil all over the ship’s engines.
The eight-day flight will feature two German scientists among a crew of seven astronauts who will work on a variety of medical, materials, physics and biology experiments.
The mission will mark only the second time in the shuttle’s 12-year history that on-board research work has been directed from outside the United States. The astronauts will report to a control center near Munich, Germany.
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