Shuttle rollout delayed by crack

Posted on: Apr. 7th, 2005 || Source: news.bbc.co.uk | E-mail Article | Print Article

The moving of the Discovery space shuttle to the launch pad has begun after the discovery of a crack in a fuel tank led to a two-hour delay.

The US space agency Nasa said the flaw in an external tank's foam insulation posed no reason for concern.
Discovery is due to be sent to the international space station in the coming months.

It will be the first shuttle Nasa has launched since the Colombia tragedy in 2003, in which seven astronauts died.

Columbia's disintegration was blamed on a foam chunk that fell off the tank during lift-off.

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