
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993                   TAG: 9304270152
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

ON 3RD TRY, SHUTTLE BLASTS OFF

Space shuttle Columbia roared into orbit Monday with seven astronauts on a German science mission that had been plagued for months by delays.

It was the mission's third launch attempt in five weeks. "It finally worked!" said an exulted Reinhard Fiege, a German government research official who watched from Kennedy Space Center.

The astronauts quickly powered up the laboratory in Columbia's cargo bay, where the medical, biological and other experiments will be conducted during the nine-day flight, ordered by Germany years ago.

By launching nine days after Discovery returned from orbit, NASA broke the 1985 record for the shortest interval between U.S. human space flights.

This is Columbia's 14th voyage since it embarked on the first shuttle flight in 1981, and NASA's 55th shuttle mission. - Associated Press

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB