Small LH2 Leak Discovered during Discovery Fueling

The space shuttle Discovery is in the final hours of her launch countdown this morning as NASA prepares to begin the oft-delayed 11 day mission.

NASA's launch team began filling Discovery's fuel tank with 535,000 gallons of super cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen this morning at 6:09 am EDT, after first chilling down the fuel lines which feed the fuel to the rust colored tank.

As the Sun began to shed light on the darkness of the Kennedy Space Center and the liquid hydrogen begin filling up the shuttle's external tank, the launch team detected a small leak at the location where it enters the tank.

Known as the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate on the backside of the fuel tank, a small leak is now giving the launch team concern as they continue their countdown toward launch this afternoon at 3:04:01 pm.

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