(No) space shuttle launch tonight

March 11, 2009 on 2:31 pm | In astronomy, science, technology | 3 Comments

I was just about to post to remind everyone to watch the space shuttle Discovery launch tonight, but I just learned that NASA has scrubbed the launch due to a leak discovered (discovery-d?) in the external liquid hydrogen fuel tank—aka the big red phallus under the shuttle.  The mission was going to take seven crew members on a two-week mission to continue construction on the International Space Station, after which the goliath project would be 81% complete.  The mission’s ISS add-ons include new solar panels and the last piece of the ISS’s girder (the longest part, to which the biggest solar panels are connected).  This was going to be the first shuttle launch of 2009; Endeavour’s November 2008 launch was the last one.

Here’s NASA’s mission page for the mission, dubbed STS-119.  From their clock it looks like they’re going to make the next launch attempt tomorrow night at around 9PM EDT.  So stay tuned!