Shuttle on track for evening launch
CAPE CANAVERAL -- Growing more confident by the minute, NASA fueled space shuttle Discovery on Sunday for an evening liftoff with none of the leaking that marred the first launch attempt.
Repairs out at the launch pad late last week apparently took care of the dangerous leak, although engineers continued to keep close watch on the system just in case. And a special team that was dispatched to the pad reset a valve and managed to raise the pressure in a helium-purging system for the space shuttle.
The only other oddity was a bat that attached itself to the back of Discovery's fuel tank, where it posed no debris threat to the shuttle itself.
Discovery was poised to blast off at 7:43 p.m. on the space station construction mission, running more than a month late. Good weather was forecast.
The seven astronauts, waving and giving thumbs-up, headed out to the launch pad in the late afternoon. They never made it that far Wednesday.
During Wednesday's attempt, hydrogen gas spewed into the air from a vent line connected to Discovery's external fuel tank. NASA replaced all the hookups, but could find nothing broken. NASA promised to halt the countdown again if the problem recurred.
Early Sunday afternoon, launch controllers anxiously monitored their computers as the fueling reached the point where the leak occurred Wednesday. No leakage was detected this time.
"It appears this system is tight," said NASA spokesman George Diller.
Concerns about hydrogen gas valves inside Discovery already had forced a one-month delay.
The commander of the international space station, Mike Fincke, called down for a shuttle update as the fueling was close to wrapping up, and was elated to hear there was no leaking.
"That is most excellent news," Fincke told Mission Control. "That's exactly what's been on top of our minds."
NASA has until Tuesday to send Discovery and its crew to the space station. The shuttle needs to deliver one last set of solar wings and some critical parts for the space station's water-recycling system.
