NASA: All systems go for next launch Experts met for 2 days to discuss shuttle dangers: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Despite lingering safety concerns, NASA mission managers Thursday officially declared Discovery ready for the first shuttle launch since the February 2003 accident that destroyed Columbia and killed its seven astronauts.

Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 1:51 p.m. on July 13. "Based on a very thorough and very successful flight readiness review, we are currently go for launch of Discovery," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said after a meeting of top shuttle managers that spanned two days. "The proximate causes of the loss of Columbia have been addressed," he said. "We honestly believe this is the cleanest flight we have ever done. The only flight that will ever be cleaner is the next one." The decision came despite a report earlier this week from a NASA-appointed task force, which said engineers still had not resolved the three most challenging safety recommendations issued by a post-Columbia investigative panel. Columbia shattered in flight as it returned to the space center on Feb. 1, 2003. The task force did praise NASA for fulfilling 12 other safety recommendations, and several of its leaders said they would not hesitate to fly aboard Discovery. Griffin said Thursday that fixes for the remaining concerns "are not doable based on our knowledge today." In addition, the chief investigator of the Columbia accident said he believed the shuttle was flight-worthy. "It sounds to me like they're ready to go," retired Navy Adm. Harold Gehman Jr. said.