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Crew arrives at ISS - Next space station crew docks to orbiting complex in Soyuz capsule.
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Atlantis on deck - Beautiful photos of shuttle Atlantis at sunrise on the launch pad.
Endeavour home - Concluding a 16-day mission, Endeavour returns to Earth for the final time.
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Hydrogen valve in Discovery scrubs tonight's launch
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: August 25, 2009
Trouble with a critical hydrogen fill-and-drain valve in the shuttle Discovery's aft
engine compartment forced NASA managers to call off an attempt to launch the orbiter
early Wednesday on a space station resupply mission. It was the second delay in a
row for Discovery following a weather scrub earlier Tuesday.
"We have scrubbed for the evening, officially at 5:52 p.m. Eastern," said launch
commentator Allard Beutel. "The last half an hour or so, a problem cropped up with a
fill-and-drain valve in the bottom part of the shuttle, the aft part of the shuttle,
related to the liquid hydrogen. This particular valve ... gave indications it did
not close when it was commanded to."
It was not immediately clear what might be needed to replace the valve or restore it
to normal operation.
But NASA only has until Aug. 30 to get Discovery off the ground or the flight will
be delayed to mid October because of upcoming Japanese and Russian space station
missions and a conflict with the Air Force Eastern Range, which provides tracking
and telemetry support for all rockets launched from Florida.
 The official crew patch for Discovery's flight to deliver and research gear to the space station
is available in the Spaceflight Now Store.
 U.S. SHOPPERS | WORLDWIDE
With a 70 percent chance of good weather expected, engineers began fueling Discovery
at 3:45 p.m., setting up a launch attempt at 1:10:22 a.m. Wednesday. But just before
6 p.m., engineers stopped loading liquid hydrogen when an inboard fill-and-drain
valve appeared to malfunction.
"You have to have it closed for flight," said Beutel. "You don't want it to get
stuck in the position where it's closed because you cannot drain the tank that way
(after a delay). The Launch Director Pete Nickolenko has given the team's the
direction to stop the fill of liquid hydrogen, so they have, and there are
discussions going on now with the team and space shuttle launch management."
He said engineers were no sure of the exact state of the inboard hydrogen
fill-and-drain valve.
"This is not one of those valves that allows (cycling) because you don't want to
have it in a position of broken/closed," he said. "So with that, the liquid hydrogen
filling of the external tank has stopped."
Additional details will be posted as they become available.
Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO:
NARRATED MISSION OVERVIEW MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO:
MEET SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S ASTRONAUTS PLAY
VIDEO:
PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH RICK STURCKOW PLAY
VIDEO:
PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN FORD PLAY
VIDEO:
PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH PAT FORRESTER PLAY
VIDEO:
PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH JOSE HERNANDEZ PLAY
VIDEO:
PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH DANNY OLIVAS PLAY
VIDEO:
PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTER FUGLESANG PLAY
VIDEO:
PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH NICOLE STOTT PLAY
VIDEO:
AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO:
THE LAUNCH COUNTDOWN GETS UNDERWAY PLAY
VIDEO:
ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT THE CAPE FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW SETS LAUNCH DATE PLAY
VIDEO:
SHUTTLE AND STATION PROGRAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO:
THE STS-128 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO:
PREVIEW BRIEFING ON MISSION'S SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO:
THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO:
SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER EXPLAINS FOAM ISSUES PLAY
VIDEO:
PAYLOAD BAY DOORS CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
MISSION CARGO LOADED ABOARD DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CREW TOURS PAD'S CLEANROOM PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
SHUTTLE EVACUATION PRACTICE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
ASTRONAUTS BOARD DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
THE LAUNCH DAY SIMULATION BEGINS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
PAD BUNKER TRAINING FOR THE CREW PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CREW BRIEFED ON EMERGENCY PROCEDURES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
NIGHTTIME APPROACHES IN TRAINING AIRCRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
TEST-DRIVING EMERGENCY ARMORED TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
INFORMAL CREW NEWS CONFERENCE AT LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO:
ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY
VIDEO:
SHUTTLE DISCOVERY ROLLS OUT PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
ORBITER HOISTED FOR MATING TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
DISCOVERY MOVED TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
TIME-LAPSE OF DISCOVERY ARRIVING IN VAB PLAY
VIDEO:
PAYLOADS DELIVERED TO LAUNCH PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
LEONARDO PUT INTO TRANSPORTER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
STATION'S NEW AMMONIA TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
MPLM HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
INSIDE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE SHOP PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CREW EQUIPMENT INTERFACE TEST PLAY | HI-DEF
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