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Space shuttle Discovery launched
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 16 - 03 - 2009

The space shuttle Discovery blasted off for a construction mission to the International Space Station on Sunday
after weeks of delays, DPA reported.
Discovery took off at 7:43 pm (2343 GMT) from the Kennedy Space
Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida and is to arrive at the ISS on
Tuesday.
The launch was to have gone off Wednesday but a leak in a hydrogen
fuel vent caused it to be scrapped at the last minute. Earlier
concerns about valves that control the flow of gaseous hydrogen had
already delayed the mission for weeks.
The shuttle was to have launched in February but was pushed back
several times to allow NASA time to examine valves that control the
flow of gaseous hydrogen from the spacecraft's engine to its external
fuel tank. A valve was found to be damaged after the space shuttle
Endeavour's November flight, prompting NASA to delay Discovery's
mission as a precautionary measure.
The Discovery is to deliver the fourth and final solar panel to
the International Space Station on a construction mission that will
enable it to double the size of its crew to six astronauts. Three
spacewalks are planned to install the solar panels and conduct other
construction projects.
Discovery has seven astronauts on board, including Japanese crew
member Koichi Wakata, who is slated to join the permanent crew on the
orbiting space station.
The 13-day mission is the first of five shuttle flights planned
for this year, before the planned retirement of the fleet of ageing
shuttles by the end of 2010.
Discovery will also deliver a new device designed to recycle urine
and sweat into drinkable water. An earlier machine had been installed
on a previous mission, but astronauts never managed to get it fully functional.
The older version will be returned to Earth so engineers can examine it for flaws.


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