The US shuttle Discovery will likely stay in orbit a day longer than planned to give astronauts time to examine a mechanical glitch on the International Space Station, NASA said today.
NASA plans to prolong the fourth space walk of the mission scheduled for Thursday, a change that would force the shuttle to stay in space 24 extra hours.
A longer space walk on Thursday, which would last at least six and half hours, would force NASA to delay the mission's fifth space walk by 24 hours since procedures call for a full day break after a long excursion.
Discovery, which blasted off into space on 23 October would land back on Earth on 7 November if the mission is extended.
During Sunday's space walk, astronaut Daniel Tani discovered metal shavings and unusual wear on part of a joint used to rotate one of the station's set of power-generating solar panels, which was installed four months ago.
He grabbed samples of the metal shavings with adhesive tape to bring them back to Earth, where they will be analyzed by engineers who will look for the origin of the problem.
