CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The launch of Discovery has been pushed to February at the earliest, as more tests and analysis are needed before the mission can proceed, U.S. officials said.
NASA engineers met Thursday and reviewed the repair on two 21-foot-long aluminum brackets on the main fuel tank called stringers, and the application of insulating foam on the tank after those repairs, a NASA release said Friday.
Mission managers decided the analysis and tests required to launch Discovery safely are not complete.
They plan to conduct an instrumented test on the external fuel tank and structural evaluations on stringer repairs, they said.
Because of Discovery's delayed launch to the International Space Station -- now set for Feb. 3 -- the earliest opportunity for the liftoff of the shuttle Endeavor on the final scheduled mission before the shuttle fleet retirement will be April 1, NASA said.
