Shuttle Discovery Launch Postponed Again

NASA has again postponed the launch of space shuttle Discovery on its STS-128 mission. The launch had been rescheduled to 01:10 EDT Wednesday, Aug. 26, after a weather-related scrub earlier today (Tuesday). At a news briefing at 10:00 pm EDT today, NASA officials explained that a failure of a liquid hydrogen inboard fill and drain value caused the postponement. Two days are needed to troubleshoot the problem. NASA is hoping to be able to launch very early Friday morning at 00:22 EDT, but will not know until they better understand the problem. Weather and range-availability issues will also factor into choosing a new date. If the launch does not happen before August 30, it will have to slip to mid-October.