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NASA postpones Discovery shuttle launch until Aug. 28

RIA Novosti

26/08/200909:29

MOSCOW, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - NASA has postponed until Friday the launch of the Discovery space shuttle after a fuel valve developed problems during tanking operations, the agency said on Wednesday.

Bad weather prevented the first attempt to launch Discovery early on Tuesday morning. The valve failure during the second attempt on Wednesday morning took NASA engineers by surprise, as the device had worked correctly during the previous try.

"NASA is targeting space shuttle Discovery for a launch attempt Friday morning," said Mike Moses, mission management team chairman.

The STS-128 mission crew, commanded by veteran astronaut Rick Sturckow, will deliver the Leonardo supply module to the International Space Station, along with a new crew member for the station, Nicole Stott.

According to NASA, Stott will replace U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra, who arrived at the station during STS-127 mission on board space shuttle Endeavour in July.