The launch of space shuttle
Discovery will be belayed until February, the U.S. National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) announced Friday.

Space shuttle Discovery’s launch
“has been targeted for no earlier than Feb. 3, 2011, to allow for more testing
on the intertank stringers on the external tank,” NASA said on its website.

Discovery was originally supposed to
lift off in early November, but a hydrogen leak and a series of long cracks on
the shuttle’s external fuel tank forced NASA to postpone its launch for several
times.

The latest delay will possibly have
an impact on the launch of shuttle Endeavor, which had been scheduled to lift
off at the end of February.

Discovery’s 11-day mission is its
final scheduled flight. The six astronauts for the mission will deliver the
Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) to the station. Two space walks, for
maintenance work and component installation, are scheduled.

The PMM was converted from the
multipurpose logistics module Leonardo and will provide additional storage for
the station crew. Experiments in such fields as fluid physics, materials
science, biology and biotechnology may be conducted inside the module.

The PMM also carries Robonaut 2, the
first human-like robot in space, which will become a permanent resident of the
station. In addition, the flight will deliver critical spare parts and an
external platform that holds large equipment.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet