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A Tentative Go for Discovery Launch

Despite weather delays and the discovery of a pencil-sized crack in the foam connecting the Space Shuttle Discovery to its External Fuel Tank, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced early Tuesday that plans were still in place to hold the first ever launch of a space shuttle on the Fourth of July. Weather forecasts put a 60% chance on a successful launch on Tuesday, though weather conditions can change and affect NASA?s decision even up to the last minutes before the final countdown ends. Lift-off was scheduled for just before 3:30 pm, EDT.

NASA has not wanted to take any chances with this latest launch, to be only the second since the shuttle Columbia broke up upon re-entry in February 2003. A piece of foam was found to have broken off from the External Fuel Tank during that shuttle?s final launch and gouged a hole in a wing large enough to let super-heated gases into the wings and aircraft. All seven astronauts died in that accident.

Last year, a space shuttle launch showed NASA that despite their best efforts, foam still was flying off the tank, though in-flight repairs were made during that mission. Should Discovery have launched after press time, it will meet up with the International Space Station for a several days long mission. According to some reports, NASA has a pretty steady string of dates up through July 19 for a shuttle launch window.