Shuttle Rises Safely Into Earth Orbit

The space shuttle Columbia thundered safely into Earth orbit Thursday with a multinational crew and an Italian satellite, though two cockpit displays falsely signaled an engine problem after liftoff.

The shuttle soared from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 12:18 p.m. PST, rising through hazy skies on an easterly course and settling into a planned 184-mile-high orbit.

The seven astronauts are prepared for two weeks in orbit. On Saturday they will unreel a 1,500-pound, tethered satellite to a distance of nearly 13 miles from Columbia on a matchstick-thin cord. During two days of experiments, they hope to demonstrate that the copper wire wrapped in high-strength synthetic insulation will generate electricity as the two spacecraft whip through Earth’s ionosphere and magnetic field.