Just hours after Discovery blasted off on Sunday en route for the ISS, NASA was tracking a 10-centimeter (4-inch) piece of debris believed to be from the Soviet-era Kosmos 1275 satellite, which disintegrated shortly after it was launched in 1981.

"The teams here in Houston and in Moscow have developed a plan to move the space station tonight if necessary, but that hasn't been decided yet," NASA spokeswoman Kylie Clem told AFP.

The projected trajectory of the space junk would take it dangerously close to the space station, where Discovery is due to dock at 2113 GMT on Tuesday, mission control in Houston said.

The seven crew on board the Discovery were meanwhile carrying out safety checks, scanning the wings and nose of the shuttle for any damage sustained on lift-off.

Last week, the three-member crew on board the ISS had to temporarily evacuate the space station and seek shelter in a Soyuz capsule after a smaller piece of space rubble was spotted hurtling toward the orbiting space station.

A decision could be taken as late as Monday night to move the ISS to avoid the latest chunk of space rubble, NASA said.

Three hours after being woken to the strains of "Free Bird" by US rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, the shuttle crew unfurled a long robotic arm mounted with a camera and began checking Discovery's wings and nose.

NASA halted all shuttle flights in February 2003 after the Columbia shuttle disintegrated as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crewmembers.

The break-up of Columbia was blamed on a piece of debris that broke off the external tank at lift-off and struck one of the wings, gouging a hole into it.

When Columbia was just minutes away from touchdown at the end of its mission, super-heated air penetrated the aircraft's insulation and burned through the structure of the wing, eventually causing the shuttle to break up.

The shuttle program resumed with the first lift-off of Discovery in July 2005.

During their 13-day mission, the Discovery crew will deliver and install two final pairs of solar panels to the space station, one of the last major tasks of the more than decade-long effort to construct the orbiting outpost.

The shuttle is also carrying the first Japanese crewmember, Koichi Wakata, to the ISS for a three-month stay, replacing US astronaut Sandra Magnus.

Installing the solar panels on the 100-billion-dollar space station was to have taken a two-astronaut team four space walks of more than six hours each to complete, according to NASA's original plans.

But after lift-off was delayed last week because of a hydrogen leak in the external fuel tank, the solar panels are now due to be installed during three space walks, the first one set for Thursday, NASA said.

The pairs of solar panels contain 32,800 solar cells and measure 35 meters (115 feet) long.

Once the full array of solar panels is in place on the space station, they will provide enough electricity to fully power scientific experiments and support an expanded crew of six, due to arrive at the ISS in May.

Discovery's crew members are also due to replace a failed unit on the ISS which helps to convert urine to drinking water.

The Discovery mission is the 125th shuttle flight and the 36th by Discovery.

earlier related report
Shuttle Discovery heads for space station
After a successful liftoff, the US space shuttle Discovery headed for the International Space Station early Monday, carrying a final pair of solar panels due to be installed ahead of the arrival of an expanded space crew.

The spacecraft launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:43 pm (2343 GMT) Sunday and reached orbit just over eight minutes later. The journey to the station was expected to take two days.

Mike Leinbach, launch director for the mission, said the liftoff was picture perfect.

"I have seen a lot of launches ... and this was the most visually beautiful," he told reporters in a briefing. "It was just spectacular. When the orbiter and the tank, booster got up in the sun light ... It was just gorgeous."

The mission, one of the last major tasks of the more than decade-long effort to construct the station, has been shortened by one day after a hydrogen leak last week led to a scrub of an earlier launch date.

But NASA officials said that the problem had been cleared up and that there has been no recurrence of the malfunction.

The leak was discovered Wednesday, when the external tank was 98 percent full of liquid hydrogen prompting it to be emptied for the checks. In all, the shuttle mission was delayed five times since February.

Once the Discovery mission installs the solar truss -- last major segment to be attached to the ISS which itself was begun in 1998 -- the space station will become fully operational and capable of housing six astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.

The mission also will allow space officials to make a swap of personnel, exchanging Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata for US astronaut Sandra Magnus, who will be returning to Earth after four months in space.

Wakata, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, who is traveling aboard Discovery, will become the first Japanese crew member on the station.

Last week's scrubbed launch forced space officials to shorten what had been planned as a 14-day mission to 13 days, and to scrap one of four planned spacewalks.

However, officials said the scheduling adjustments should not affect the mission to deliver and install a fourth pair of solar panels to the ISS.

Installing the solar panels on the 100-billion-dollar station was to take a two-astronaut team four space walks of more than six hours each to complete, according to NASA's original plans.

The pairs of solar panels, containing 32,800 solar cells, are each 35 meters (115 feet) long. The final array, once in place, should boost available energy to the ISS to 120 kilowatts -- equivalent to that used in about 50 houses -- from the current 90.

The extra power will help run the expanded array of scientific experiments to be conducted in the ISS, which saw the addition over the past year of NASA workspace and a pair of international laboratories -- Europe's Columbus and Japan's Kibo.

The main purpose of the space station is to provide a zero-gravity environment for scientific experiments.

However, at present, there is insufficient staff to simultaneously conduct research and maintain the space station.

Additional energy from the soon-to-be-installed solar panels will supply power for onboard laboratories and for the station's crew, which will double from three to six in May.

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Cape Canaveral, Florida (AFP) March 16, 2009
After a successful liftoff, the US space shuttle Discovery headed for the International Space Station early Monday, carrying a final pair of solar panels due to be installed ahead of the arrival of an expanded space crew.