Astronauts Confident of Shuttle Safety

High-speed consciousness-raising

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The astronauts who will make NASA's first shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster said Friday they are confident it will be a safe voyage, and while they won't be able to fix a hole the size of the one that doomed Columbia, they will have options the last crew did not. "There has been so much testing done that our confidence has gone way up," said Air Force Col. Eileen Collins, commander of the mission aboard Discovery. She noted that she and her crew have been "very, very heavily involved" in the day-to-day flight preparations and decision-making.