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Shuttle Discovery to Launch Thursday
U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) has started its countdown clocks for a Thursday launch of the space shuttle Discovery is to ferry a fresh crew to the international space station and bring the current occupants home.
Shuttle managers concluded Monday after four days of meetings that Discovery is safe to fly and requires no repairs. Their concerns arose last week after five cracks were found in a fuel-injector stem similar to the one in Discovery's left booster rocket.
NASA ordered an inspection of additional fuel injectors. In all, 39 fuel-injector stems were checked over the past several days, about 60% of the entire inventory, said NASA spokesman Rob Navias. No other damage was found.
The countdown began on time late Monday afternoon as engineers finished inspecting the 39th fuel injector.
"The inspection of this final unit ... produced no cracks, so we are now officially 'go' for launch," Navias said an hour later.
Discovery is scheduled to lift off at 5:38 p.m. Thursday with seven astronauts and cosmonauts, three of whom will stay behind at space station Alpha.
American Frank Culbertson and Russians Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Turin will move into the space station for a four-month stay. They will replace a crew of three that has been in orbit for five months.
Forecasters put the odds of good launch weather Thursday at 60%. Thunderstorms are expected later in the week.
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