alb@brunix.UUCP (Adam Buchsbaum) (03/01/85)
NASA today postponed the launch of the Challenger by three more days, until 7 March, if order to give technicians more time to troubleshoot one of the batteries on the TDRS satellite in the cargo bay. One of its twenty-four cells will not accept a charge. The battery is one of three that supplies power to the satellite when it is out of sunlight. The new delay has forced a postponement of the next launch of the Discovery, originally scheduled for 17 March. The new launch date for that mission is now 20 March, giving a mere 3-day launch window. The window is due to the orbit needed for the Discovery to rendezvous with a satellite that its crew is scheduled to retrieve. The next launch opportunity would come three weeks later.