Nasa this morning delayed liftoff of the space shuttle Discoverybecause of an apparent problem with a valve in its fuel tank and said the next possible launch opportunity was Friday.
It was the second consecutive delay, after stormy weather postponed a launch attempt early yesterday. Discoveryand its seven-member crew were preparing for a 13-day supply mission to the International Space Station.
The valve problem surfaced as technicians began fuelling up the shuttle for a launch set for 1.10am local time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"When we went to close the valve (after the hydrogen tank was full) we didn't get an indication that it was closed," Mike Moses, who oversees the shuttle programme at the launch site, told reporters.
Engineers believe the problem to be with instrumentation that monitors the valve, and not the valve itself, which would position Nasa for a possible third launch attempt at 12.22am on Friday. Anything more serious and the launch likely would be postponed until October.
Discoveryis scheduled to deliver lab equipment, supplies and spare parts to the station. Including Discovery's flight, NASA plans seven more shuttle missions to the space station. The 16-nation, $100 billion project is nearing completion after more than a decade of construction 220 miles above Earth.
The shuttles are being retired late next year or early 2011. Nasa is working on a new type of spaceship called Orionthat can travel beyond the station's orbit to the moon and other destinations.
Reuters