NASA has delayed the launch of STS103 Discovery on the Hubble Servicing Mission 3A to 9 December. The delay is to allow time for repairs to be made to minor damage on cables between the orbiter and the external tank.
During preparations for orbiter Endeavour's mission in January, NASA found cracked insulation on a wiring harness that connects the Space Shuttle external tank to the orbiter. Engineers found similar damage to the Discovery orbiter on launch pad 39B.
If the launch of the nine-day mission is delayed further, it may have to be put off until January. Traditionally, NASA does not fly orbiters over the New Year because of inadequate computer protection for the date change.
Source: Flight International
