Space Shuttle Discovery moves out from the Vehicle Assembly Building towards launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida April 6, 2005. The fully assembled space shuttle vehicle orbiter, external tank and twin solid rocket boosters is mounted on the Mobile Launcher Platform for the four-mile journey via the crawler transporter to launch pad 39B.(Photo: Xinhua)

    BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhuanet) -- NASA is once again poised for the launch since the 2003 Columbia accident.

    

(Photo: Xinhua)

"I'm confident in that fact that we've come a long way, and in that respect we're ready to fly this mission," Eileen Collins, who will command the Discovery during its 12-day space mission, told a crew news conference.

    "At this point, I'm not worried. I'm focused on our training," she said.

    Collins said NASA had in many cases exceeded recommendations made by the board investigating the accident that destroyed the shuttle Columbia and killed its seven astronauts in 2003, the second fatal accident in the U.S. shuttle program.

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    "If we do get to the point where a recommendation is not fulfilled in anyone's mind, we are not going to fly until we're ready to fly," she added. "I feel very confident in that."

    Everybody at the US space agency, including the astronauts, understand that there are no risk-free shuttle missions, but nonetheless firmly believe that the only way to improve its performance is to send it back up into orbit.

    "We are ready to go. I look at this as a new beginning," NASA Flight Director LeRoy Cain told reporters Wednesday.

     "There is risk in this business, this business is about managing that risk."

    The space shuttle Discovery rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at 2:04 p.m. EDT and began its 4.2-mile trip to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

    The shuttle arrived at its seaside launch pad at 12:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, several hours behind schedule.

    The date of launch period for Discovery runs from May 15 to June 3, subjecting to change should technical problems arise. Enditem

   (Agencies)