Discovery launch delayed indefinitely

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., July 15 (UPI) -- The first space shuttle launch since the Columbia disaster has been put off at least until the middle of next week.

Deputy Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale told reporters at the Kennedy Space Center late Friday troubleshooters will work through the weekend, searching for the cause of an equipment failure that forced NASA to scrub the planned launch on Wednesday.

"We are going forward on a day by day basis," said Hale. "As soon as we have fixed the problem we will be four days from launch."

The still-unidentified technical problem appears to be somewhere along the path from a sensor in the fuel tank to computers on the orbiter which process the information from the sensor, Hale said.

Mike Leinbach, NASA's shuttle launch director, said the repairs will likely require going inside the orbiter, which can be done while it is sitting on the launch pad.