NASA Fills Shuttle's Tank, Calls Fueling Test a Success
CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA fueled a space shuttle for the first time in more than two years Thursday, and Discovery's redesigned external tank aced the crucial pre-launch test.
The 154-foot, rust-colored tank underwent major modifications after the Columbia disaster, which was caused by a chunk of insulating foam that fell off the tank during liftoff and gashed the shuttle's wing.
"From our standpoint, we'd say we got an A," said Neil Otte, chief engineer of the external-tank project. "It performed exactly as we expected it to perform."
No astronauts were aboard Discovery for the day-long tanking test, a rare event in the 24-year history of the shuttle program. But the entire launch team was on hand in the firing room, and eight inspectors equipped with new cameras and scopes were at the pad to look for any ice or frost on the tank, which was filled with super-cool fuel.
Discovery is to blast off no earlier than May 15 on a flight to the international space station. It will be the first shuttle mission since the Columbia tragedy in 2003.
Donation to Killer's Family Angers Some on Reservation
RED LAKE, Minn. -- The Red Lake Tribal Council gave $5,000 to the family of the 16-year-old gunman in last month's school shootings as part of an assistance effort for victims, angering those who think the shooter should not be treated as a victim.
The council gave that amount to 15 families Wednesday as the first distribution from a memorial fund that has received more than $200,000 in donations. The council decided that Jeff Weise, who committed suicide at the end of the rampage, was a victim and that his family should get some assistance.
"Why are they considering him to be a victim when he killed everybody?" asked Victoria Brun, sister of slain school guard Derrick Brun. "The people who donated the money have a right to know and question how the money is divided."
• BOSTON -- Harvard University reproached law professor Laurence H. Tribe as failing to properly credit another author's work in a book published two decades ago. President Lawrence H. Summers and Law School Dean Elena Kagan said that after they reviewed an investigative report they concluded that Tribe's breach was unintentional.
• ATLANTA -- Eric Rudolph's claim that he was trying to stop abortions when he set off bombs at the 1996 Olympics, two women's clinics and a gay nightclub has angered activists on both sides of the abortion debate and put many on edge. Abortion clinics are bracing for possible copycat attacks, saying Rudolph's statement issued Wednesday amounted to a "call to action" for extremists.
• FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who is charged in a deadly grenade attack on his comrades, wrote in his diary that his fellow soldiers were mistreating him and that, once he was sent to Iraq, "I am going to try and kill as many of them as possible," a jury was told. An FBI agent read four passages to the 15-member jury before the prosecution rested its case in the court-martial. Akbar's attorneys are set to begin calling witnesses Monday.
-- From News Services
