Space: Bugs, Bees and Balky Radios

Despite some slips, Columbia scores a hat trick in space

The problems were exasperating, almost tinged with gallows humor. Barely had the space shuttle Columbia settled into orbit last week than the ship's veteran commander, Marine Colonel Jack Lousma, 46, developed a severe case of motion sickness. The ship itself also suffered a recurrence of an old ailment: during lift-off it lost several dozen heat-shielding tiles. As Columbia whirled 150 miles above the earth, still other things began to go wrong—two television cameras failed, the $1.2 million toilet clogged, a latch on the cargo-bay...

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