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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/shuttle-mission-delayed-until-2011.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Space shuttle Discovery's latest mission has been postponed until February 2011 (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/min-shuttle-mission-delayed-until-2011.jpg" alt="Space shuttle Discovery's latest mission has been postponed until February 2011 (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>Space shuttle Discovery&#8217;s final mission is off until February, three months late because of fuel tank cracks that are stumping engineers.</p>
<p>Nasa&#8217;s top spaceflight managers said they need more time to understand the cracking, which cropped up following a failed launch attempt in early November.</p>
<p>Discovery remains on the launch pad, holding a load of equipment for the International Space Station.</p>
<p>The launch team plans to conduct a fuelling test by month&#8217;s end &#8211; rigging the external tank with gauges and sensors, then loading it up &#8211; in hopes of cracking the elusive crack problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;Analysis can only get you so far,&#8221; said shuttle programme manager John Shannon. &#8220;It&#8217;s time to go test.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bill Gerstenmaier, head of Nasa&#8217;s space operations, said lift-off tentatively is set for around February 3, the opening of the next practical launch window. That will push the final mission of shuttle Endeavour back a full month, into April.</p>
<p>A series of unmanned cargo ships from other countries are due to fly to the orbiting lab in the next few months, complicating matters. Also on tap is the arrival of a new station crew in mid-December, via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.</p>
<p>Six astronauts are assigned to the Discovery mission, as well as the first humanoid robot bound for space, Robonaut, which will stay packed aboard the shuttle.</p>
<p>Mr Gerstenmaier said the postponements should not affect Nasa&#8217;s effort to secure funding for an extra shuttle mission next summer. Nor should they hinder space station activities.</p>
<p>Nasa is retiring its shuttle fleet next year under the direction of the White House, after 30 years of flight.</p>
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