After a week of delays, it seemed the space shuttle Discovery
was finally on-track for its 39th and final mission. NASA gave the
go ahead, thanks to 70 percent favorable weather predictions. The Discovery was set for a
“The team is not working any issue right now preventing
a launch on time,” a spokesman for the
told the press. Technicians began fueling the shuttle’s big orange external
fuel tanks.
And then, something happened–the latest in a string of
technical and weather issues that have pushed the 11 day mission back, day
after day. NASA discovered a leak in the
hydrogen gas tanks–the same problem that plagued two shuttle launches last
year. The concern surrounds the high flammability of the gas.
The Discovery will launch on Sunday, at the earliest–it may,
however, be delayed until next month, due to problems with solar angles in the
Interational Space Station.
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