Discovery Blasts Off Into Space

With a faulty fuel gauge fixed, the US today launched its first manned space flight since the February 2003 Columbia disaster.

At 10.39am local time (3.39pm BST), the countdown began and space shuttle Discovery launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The mission - the first for two and a half years - was considered vital if construction of the International Space Station was to finish before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. But it had been dogged by problems.

Discovery was scheduled to launch earlier this month but a fault with the fuel gauge saw the mission abandoned just hours before lift-off.

The problem was still unremedied earlier today and Nasa had said it was prepared to bend its own safety rules over the fault. Shortly before lift-off, Nasa announced that the sensors on Discovery's giant external tank had passed all tests.

Discovery's 12-day mission, led by Commander Eileen Collins, is to ferry vital supplies and equipment to the International Space Station and perform in-flight assessments of the safety modifications.

After losing 14 astronauts in two shuttle disasters since 1986, Nasa has been battling to restore its reputation, and has spent more than $1bn on safety modifications to the rest of its ageing shuttle fleet since Columbia disintegrated while re-entering Earth's atmosphere.