Discovery's red glare on 4th

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA gave the shuttle Discovery a majestic Fourth of July send-off and said early signs showed the spacecraft was in good shape, despite once again being struck by the flying foam that has plagued the program.

The first-ever Independence Day manned launch came after two weather delays and over objections from those within NASA who argued for more fuel-tank repairs.

Shuttle managers said early video images of liftoff showing small pieces of foam breaking away — and one even striking the spacecraft — were not troubling.

"The tank performed very, very well, indeed, very pleased," shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said Tuesday night, five hours after liftoff. "As opposed to where we were last year, we saw nothing that gives us any kind of concern about the health of the crew or the vehicle."

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said of the launch: "They don't get much better than this."

It was Griffin who chose to go ahead with the mission over concerns from the space agency's safety officer and chief engineer about foam problems that have dogged the agency since Columbia was doomed by a flyaway chunk of insulation 3 1/2 years ago.

Discovery thundered away from its seaside pad at 12:38 p.m MDT.

About three minutes later, as many as five pieces of debris were seen flying off the tank, and another piece of foam popped off a bit later, Mission Control told the crew. The latter piece struck the belly of Discovery, but NASA assured the seven astronauts it was no concern because of the timing.

Hale said Discovery was so high when the pieces came off that there wasn't enough air to accelerate the foam into the shuttle and cause damage.

All but one of the foam pieces were small and all came off well after the two-minute, 15-second point of causing damage, Hale said. NASA had expected minor foam loss.

"It's all very minor. It's all very late," Hale said. "So at the end of the day, I'm very pleased with the performance of the tank. This is a great improvement from where we were."

The astronauts reported seeing what they described as a large piece of cloth tumbling away from Discovery soon after reaching orbit. It looked like one of the thermal blankets that protects the shuttle, they said, but Mission Control told them it was likely ice and that a similar observation was made during Discovery's flight a year ago.