The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of US has postponed the launch of the space shuttle Discovery for the fourth time following concerns over valves that keep fuel flowing in Discovery's main engines. After a meeting of the officials of Space Shuttle Program on Friday (February 20), it was decided that the launched should be delayed further. According a statement from NASA, the launch date for Discovery is currently under review.

 

The engineers at NASA have removed the three valves of the Discovery and fixed them again after proper inspection. The valves transit hydrogen gas from the main engines to the external fuel tank. During the November mission, one valve on the shuttle Endeavor broke down. Now, the shuttle managers want to make sure that seven-man crew of the space shuttle remains safe if such thing happens again.  

 

Originally, the space shuttle Discovery was supposed to be launched at the International Space Station on February 12. But during a review of Discovery's readiness for flight, the launch date was postponed to February 19. Again, the NASA managers decided that the launch will be not earlier than February 22. Finally, on Friday, NASA postponed the launch programme once more.