Florida: NASA will try to launch space shuttle Discovery into the international space station late on Friday night, after back-to-back delays caused by bad weather and fuel valve trouble.
It will be the third try for NASA, which is still struggling to understand why a critical shuttle fuel valve appeared to malfunction on Tuesday midway through the fueling process.
The valve was tested on Wednesday night, and all indications were that it was a problem with a sensor rather than the valve itself. The hydrogen fuel valve, a big 8-inch (20-centimeter) device, is located in Discovery's engine compartment.
After meeting on Thursday, mission managers decided they needed more time to settle on a plan if the problem reappears, and aimed for a lift-off late on Friday night.
"The better part of valor in Florida city is to take a day, let us go polish that (plan) off, really make sure we understand what's going on," said Chairman of the mission management team, Mike Moses. "The team was 80, 90 per cent of the way there already," he added in the analysis.
Another potential problem issue popped up on Thursday when a mechanical failure cancelled the test firing of a new moon rocket in Utah. The problem was a faulty valve in a power unit nearly identical to a system used in the shuttle. Shuttle managers said they'd take a look at what went wrong in Utah to see if there's any potential implication for the shuttle.
In an unusual lineup of events, NASA had two launch opportunities for Friday, in the early wee hours and just before midnight. Liftoff time will be 11:59 pm (local time).
Moses joked about bypassing Friday's first opportunity. "Just to put the right spin on it, we're here to not talk about a scrub. In fact, we're still going to launch on Friday. So that's good," he said at a news conference.
Thunderstorms ruined the first launch attempt on early Tuesday morning; the valve problem cancelled an early Wednesday attempt.
Forecasters put the odds of good launch weather at just 60 per cent. Thunderstorms are a concern for both fuelling and launch.
NASA has until Sunday to launch Discovery, otherwise the shuttle will have to get in line behind a Japanese cargo ship and a Russian spacecraft set to go to the space station in September. That would push the shuttle mission into mid-October.
Seven astronauts are assigned to the 13-day flight. They will deliver a full load of space station supplies, including a treadmill.
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