US space shuttle grounded until July

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2005

WASHINGTON (AFP) — NASA has postponed the scheduled relaunching of its space shuttle program until July, over concerns that ice or pieces of insulating foam could break off and damage the orbiter, as in the deadly 2003 Shuttle Columbia disaster that halted the space shuttle mission, a NASA official said.

An official announcement from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was set for 1430 GMT Friday, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Discovery, which was wheeled to its launch platform earlier this month at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, had been scheduled to blast off on a mission to the orbiting International Space Station between May 15 and June 3.

The next launch window is in mid-July.

By delaying the launch, an...