Discovery ship cracks fuel tank

The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) has discovered a fourth crack in the fuel storage compartment of Space Shuttle Discovery.

Discovery ship on launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. (NASA photo)

The new crack is similar to the other three cracks lying on the aluminum shell near the 15-storey high-fuel refueling center, mounted on the Discovery spacecraft. NASA found the first long-term crack in the insulation foam of the fuel tank after detecting a gas leak.

The cracks along with hydrogen gas leaks at the refueling compartment prevent Discovery from making the last space flight from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA this month.

On November 15, the Associated Press quoted NASA spokesman Allard Beutel, saying that the repair work needs to be completed before the time of selection is the departure date of Discovery. According to Beutel, Discovery ships can be launched into space between November 30 and December 6.

NASA officials expected the next possible departure for Discovery to depart at 4:01 PM Vietnam time on November 30. Discovery's STS-133 mission is expected to last for 11 days, with the main task of bringing a robot to support employees at the International Space Station (ISS) and providing a storage room. New storage for this facility.

According to the plan, this will be the 39th flight and also the Discovery ship's last space before "retiring" in 2011 with the rest of the NASA space shuttle.

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