Space Shuttle Launch Drill Due to Resume

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. —  Rocket engineers on Saturday fixed a leaky fuel line to the launching pad and adjusted two pumps so that a practice countdown for the shuttle Discovery could be resumed today.

Since an on-board steering rocket fuel line was still leaking and five days have already been lost in the rehearsal countdown, the possibility of launching in September was extremely remote. Most observers said an early October date was more likely.

Still, engineers were determined to get the rehearsal back on track today, and if a fuel-loading exercise goes well, the shuttle’s three main engines will be test-fired Thursday--a milestone on the road to resuming shuttle flights.

Before the engines can be fired, however, engineers must complete a full-scale rehearsal countdown, including fuel loading.

The rehearsal was ordered by NASA managers to check for hidden problems and to give launch crews a chance to review procedures. In that sense the Discovery countdown has been successful, because several problems have been found and corrected.

Problems were not unexpected. A shuttle has not been fueled since Challenger 2 1/2 years ago, and many technicians now working for NASA have yet to participate in a launching.

No obvious problem was found in the pumps, but engineers replaced two motorized switches and circuit boards and ran the pump motors all day Saturday, to make sure they will work properly when the fueling exercise resumes.

The practice countdown had been scheduled to end at 7 a.m. Monday.

Instead, the launch team will recycle the countdown to T-minus 62 hours. Engineers then will begin preparing Discovery for its 22-second engine firing Thursday.