Discovery's launch delayed until at least mid-December

NASA managers reviewing the progress of repairs to the shuttle Discovery's external tank and the rationale for making another launch attempt decided Wednesday to pass up an early December launch window, delaying the flight to at least Dec. 17 and possibly all the way to February. Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon told reporters engineers need more time to understand what caused cracks to develop in structural ribs, or stringers, during fueling Nov. 5 to better assess the likelihood of additional cracks during flight that could lead to potentially damaging foam insulation losses or even structural failure. While the latter is believed to be a remote possibility, engineers need to make sure. And that will take time. More

(Source: Space Flight Now - Nov 29)