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| NASA's new administrator, Michael Griffin
(L), announced the delay at a televised news conference on
Friday. | WASHINGTON,
April 29 (Xinhuanet) -- NASA announced on Friday a delay of two months for the
first space shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster, in order to allow
further work on launch-debris.
Discovery, which was scheduled for launch between May
22 and June 3, will have to be removed from the launch pad and returned to the
Vehicle Assembly Building for extra repairs on its external fuel tank. The next
launch window is from July 13 to July 31.
NASA's new administrator, Michael Griffin, announced
the delay at a televised news conference earlier in the day, saying the decision
was based on the result of recent launch-debris reviews.
"This is consistent with our overall approach to
return to flight, which is that we're going to return to flight. We are not
going to rush to flight, and we want it to be right, so we're doing what we need
to do to ensure that," he said. NASA has grounded its shuttle fleet since the
Columbia disintegration on its re-entry in February 2003, in which all seven
astronauts aboard were killed. The accident is blamed on a trunk of foam
insulation that fell off the external fuel tank and damaged Columbia's wing on
liftoff.
 NASA has redesigned the external
fuel tank to reduce the dangerfrom debris of foam insulation, but another prime
concern now is that ice could form on the fuel tank when it is filled with
super-cold fuel, and that the ice could break off and hit the shuttle onliftoff.
NASA has decided to install a heater on Discovery's
fuel tank. And another fueling test may be necessary.
If Discovery does not fly in July, the next
opportunity would be in September. Discovery's prime mission is to ship supplies
and equipment to the International Space Station. The launch window is
determined by space station's orbital position, and NASA's preference to a
daylight launch in order to ensure good photography of the shuttle and the fuel
tank. Enditem | 
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