NASA wants to launch mission after dark

0 Comments | USA TODAY, November, 2006 | by Traci Watson

Despite some extra risk, NASA hopes next month to launch a space shuttle at night for the first time since the deadly Columbia accident almost four years ago. If shuttle managers give the go-ahead this month, shuttle Discovery will blast off at 9:36 p.m. ET Dec. 7 on a 12-day mission to build the International Space Station.

Launching at night limits the view of airborne debris, which can smash into the ship as it lifts off. NASA has more than 100 cameras near the launch pad and on the spacecraft to monitor liftoff, but they won't work as well in the dark. "We'll learn more on a day launch about where a piece (of debris) may have come off, there's no doubt about it," NASA safety chief Bryan O'Connor says. "But we also have benefits to launching at night, and we're trying to...