Two cracks discovered in space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank could jeopardize the orbiter's planned final launch set for Nov. 30, officials said.
Engineers beginning repair work on a crack in the tank's foam insulating layer Wednesday morning discovered the new cracks on the aluminum body of the tank.
NASA officials say they are evaluating the cracks to determine how to repair them as the orbiter remains on its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"This is still really early on, so the exact repair method and schedule is still being figured out," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told SPACE.com.
"It's just a matter of the repair method and how best to go about it. Right now, we're looking at repair options that can be done at the pad."
Similar cracks on external tanks have been repaired by removing and replacing the fractured aluminum before replacing the foam, but these kinds of repairs have previously only been accomplished in the tanks' production phase.
"We've seen these kinds of things," Beutel said. "They've done repairs to them before, but we've never done them here at Kennedy. They were always done at Michoud."
Located in New Orleans, La., NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility builds and and assembles hardware for the space shuttles, including the massive external tanks.
Discovery's mission managers are considering a schedule for repairs and the next possible launch date for the orbiter.
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