FLORIDA : Shuttle Is in Orbit, Readies Medical Tests
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
The space shuttle Columbia rocketed into orbit on a 2 1/2-week medical research mission. Four of the seven astronauts will be poked with needles, wear caps with electrodes, collect blood, spit and body waste and subject themselves to other tests over the next 16 or 17 days, so that future space travelers can adjust more easily to the effects of weightlessness during longer missions, officials at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida said.
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