The launch of the next US shuttle mission, Discovery, has been postponed to May 31, NASA officials said Tuesday. ( dpa )
Delays in the delivery of the external fuel tank prompted the change from the May 25 target.
The next shuttle will deliver additional parts of the Japanese experimental laboratory Kibo to the International Space Station (ISS) that orbits 350 kilometres above Earth.
The Discovery mission will be the third shuttle launch this year as NASA rushes to finish construction of the ISS before it retires the ageing spacecraft in 2010.