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The launch of NASA’s space shuttle, Discovery, has been delayed by 24 hours as NASA wants to have more time for reviewing the data related to the suspect valve in the liquid hydrogen fuel tank.
The space shuttle was scheduled to be launched on Tuesday which had been postponed to Friday after a problem with the fill and drain valve was detected. The current plan is to launch about midnight Friday (0400 GMT Saturday).
NASA has revealed that it require more time for determining the exact nature of the problem.
Fuel valve problems have dogged recent shuttle launches as the ageing craft and launch apparatus enters the final phase of the decades-old shuttle programme.
NASA expects to complete the International Space Station orbiting by next year so that the NASA shuttles can retire. In their place, a new spacecraft is being built that will be available in 2015 at the earliest.
Discovery's crew for this mission includes six Americans and Swede Christer Fuglesang, flying for the European Space Agency.
