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Discovery was set to launch on Monday, but engineers have continued to push that back. First they had to repair some small gas leaks. Then they spotted a problem with a circuit connected to one of the shuttle’s three engines. NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said the electrical problem resolved on its own.
“It just probably had some type of contamination that cleared itself. Maybe a piece of dust, something as small as a piece of dust could have caused it. And that’s what the engineering team spent a couple of days looking at to make sure the system has been working fine since, which it has and that we would not have a problem for the rest of the flight.”
Since then, the problem has been rain and wind. Herring says the forecast looks better for Friday and the team is hoping for a 2 p.m. lift-off.
“Essentially a four-day delay obviously is not something you’d want, but we’re not on a commercial airliner schedule you know, and if it takes four days or if it takes seven days then that’s what we’ll take to go and make sure the problem is understand before we go launch.”
Six astronauts will ride Discovery to the International Space Station and deliver experiments and supplies, then return after 11 days. From the KUHF Health Science and Technology desk, I’m Carrie Feibel.