Nasa tests ageing space shuttle after failed launch

Nasa carried out tests on the external fuel tank of the ageing shuttle Discovery yesterday after strange cracks appeared during a countdown last month which delayed its final launch into space.

“So far, so good,” said Allard Beutel, a spokesman for the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, adding that there was no immediate sign of the cracks or the hydrogen leak that scuppered the November 5 countdown.

Engineers said it would take several days to analyse the results from 89 temperature and tension sensors that were placed on the fuel tank, which was then filled with super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The tank was to be pressurised to flight levels in a mock countdown before it is drained.

The sensors will continue to collect results through today as the tank returns to normal temperatures.

The instruments are expected to gather at least six terabytes of data, the equivalent of three academic research libraries, Nasa said in a statement.

Engineers are trying to figure out why a pair of “stringers” – 6.5 metre U-shaped aluminium brackets – cracked during the countdown for the shuttle’s last voyage into space.