Discovery damaged on launchpad

With the countdown for Discovery in its final hours, a window cover fell off the shuttle and damaged thermal tiles near the tail.

But the National Aeronautics and Space Agency said it could fix the problem in time for Wednesday's launch.

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The plastic-and-foam cover fell at the launch pad and struck a bulge in the fuselage housing an orbital-manoeuvring engine on Tuesday. NASA planned to inspect and repair the area, which is protected by fragile thermal tiles.

Stephanie Stilson, the NASA manager in charge of Discovery's launch preparations, said that the tiles on an underlying metal panel were damaged and that a new panel would be put in its place. She said the work could be done quickly and should not delay the launch.

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No workers were present when the window cover fell off, the space agency said.

Word of the mishap came just two hours after NASA declared Discovery ready to return the nation to space, 2 ½ years after the Columbia disaster.