For the second day in a row, the launch of the space shuttle Discovery was postponed.
It was postponed yesterday for severe weather in the area and today it was postponed due to a faulty fuel valve reports Reuters.
NASA said it will probably launch the space shuttle Discovery Aug. 28 after a valve malfunction on the craft led the agency to abort today’s planned liftoff for a 13-day mission to the International Space Station.
Engineers will use the next two days to check a liquid hydrogen valve that may have failed to close during preparations for today’s launch, NASA said yesterday in a media briefing streamed on its Web site.
An Aug. 28 launch depends on NASA’s confirmation of engineers’ suspicions that sensors, rather than the valve itself, caused yesterday’s malfunction, Mike Moses, the mission management team chairman, said. “That’s our success-oriented plan,” he said.
The craft’s crew of seven astronauts aims to deliver more than seven tons of supplies and equipment to the station in orbit about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the earth. The shuttle will also ferry Nicole Stott to the station, where she plans to stay for three months, replacing Timothy Kopra, a flight engineer.
Any delay beyond Aug. 30 would cause the target date to be moved to mid-October, Moses said.
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