Feb. 03, 2009

John Yembrick
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
john.yembrick-1{at}nasa.gov

Candrea Thomas
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
candrea.k.thomas{at}nasa.gov

RELEASE: 09-025

SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCH NOW NO EARLIER THAN FEB. 19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- During a review of space shuttle Discovery's
readiness for flight, NASA managers decided Tuesday to plan a launch
no earlier than Feb. 19. The new planning date is pending additional
analysis and particle impact testing associated with a flow control
valve in the shuttle's main engines.

Discovery's STS-119 mission to the International Space Station
originally had been targeted for Feb. 12.

The valve is one of three that channels gaseous hydrogen from the
engines to the external fuel tank. One of these valves in shuttle
Endeavour was found to be damaged after its mission in November. As a
precaution, Discovery's valves were removed, inspected and
reinstalled.

The Space Shuttle Program will convene a meeting on Feb. 10 to assess
the analysis. On Feb. 12, NASA managers and contractors will finalize
the flight readiness review, which began Tuesday, to address the flow
control valve issue and to select an official launch date.
The 14-day mission will deliver the station's fourth and final set of
solar arrays, completing the orbiting laboratory's truss, or
backbone. The arrays will provide the electricity to fully power
science experiments and support the station's expanded crew of six in
May. Altogether, the station's 240-foot-long arrays can generate as
much as 120 kilowatts of usable electricity -- enough to provide
about forty-two 2,800-square-foot homes with power.

Discovery also will carry a replacement distillation assembly for the
station's new water recycling system. The unit is part of the Urine
Processing Assembly that removes impurities from urine in an early
stage of the recycling process. The Water Recovery System was
delivered and installed during the STS-126 mission in November, but
the unit failed after Endeavour's departure.

Joining Archambault on STS-119 will be Pilot Tony Antonelli and
Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, Richard Arnold, John Phillips,
Steve Swanson and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi
Wakata. Wakata will replace Sandra Magnus aboard the station. She
will return home with the Discovery crew after three months in space.


Former science teachers Acaba and Arnold are now fully-trained NASA
astronauts. They will make their first journey to orbit on the
mission and step outside the station to conduct critical spacewalking
tasks.

STS-119 will be Discovery's 36th mission and the 28th shuttle flight
dedicated to station assembly and maintenance.
For more information about the STS-119 mission, including images and
interviews, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

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