Astronauts confident of shuttle’s rescue

CAPE CANAVERAL, NOV 23: The crew of the space shuttle Columbia expressed confidence that the malfunctioning Spartan solar observatory could be rescued during a daring spacewalk scheduled for tomorrow.

“I feel pretty confident that we can pull it off safely,” Columbia crewman Winston Scott said in an interview with the NBC Television Network late last night.The $ 10 million Spartan satellite was left tumbling in space on Friday after it malfunctioned and the astronauts were unable to retrieve it with the shuttle’s robot arm. The observatory was due to fly free of the shuttle for two days to study the corona, the sun’s fiery outer atmosphere.Under the plans being drawn up at mission control in Houston, Scott and Japanese crewmate Takao Doi would attempt to grab the 3,000 lb (1360 kg) errant satellite by hand and berth it in the shuttle’s cargo bay.Two options were being considered for the rescue attempt. The favoured plan would have Scott and Doi grabbing the slowly rotating Spartan while standing on the satellite’s bridge-like cradle in the shuttle’s cargo bay.