Final Discovery Launch Delayed Until February

By Mark Carreau

HOUSTON — NASA shuttle managers have pushed Discovery’s launch to no earlier than Feb. 3, 2011, following a Dec. 3 decision to carry out more testing in their pursuit of the elusive root cause of cracks in the orbiter’s external fuel tank.

The decision by Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, and Shuttle Program ...

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