Pilot at helm of Challenger launch dies in Arizona

A retired Nasa astronaut who commanded the first flight of the space shuttle Challenger and also piloted the Skylab in the early 1970s has died.

Paul Weitz was 85. He died at a retirement home in Arizona on Monday, with no cause of death given.

A Nasa biography said Mr Weitz was among the class of 19 astronauts who were chosen in April 1966. He served as command module pilot on the first crew of the orbiting space laboratory known as Skylab in 1973.

Mr Weitz also commanded the first launch of the shuttle Challenger in April 1983. The five-day mission took off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and landed in California. Challenger was destroyed and seven crew members killed during its tenth launch in 1986.