Launch Will Occur No Sooner Than February 22

Add three more days -- at least -- to NASA's timeframe for the upcoming launch of the space shuttle Discovery. Due to an ongoing review of the space shuttle's flow control valves, NASA managers announced Friday liftoff on the STS-119 mission will occur no sooner than February 22.

The space agency says the extended delay is due to ongoing analysis and particle impact testing associated with a flow control valve in the shuttle's main engines. The valve is one of three that channels gaseous hydrogen from the engines to the external fuel tank.

As ANN reported last week, NASA found one of those valves damaged in Endeavour after that shuttle's mission in November. As a precaution, Discovery's valves were removed, inspected and reinstalled.

The STS-119 mission fly the S6 truss segment and install the final set of power-generating solar arrays to the International Space Station. The S6 truss, with its set of large US solar arrays, will complete the backbone of the station and provide one-fourth of the total power needed to support a crew of six.

Commander Lee Archambault will lead Discovery's crew of seven, along with Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.

Wakata will replace Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus, who will return to Earth with the STS-119 crew. Wakata will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 18 and 19, and return to Earth with the STS-127 crew.

The Space Shuttle Program will hold a meeting February 13 to review data and determine whether to move forward with a flight readiness review on February 18. The official STS-119 launch date will be set at the readiness review.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/shuttle