Launching of Secret Shuttle Mission Delayed

HOUSTON — The planned launching next week of the space shuttle Discovery on a military flight has been delayed at least two days because of possible short circuits in two key booster control devices, officials said Tuesday.

Discovery and its five-member crew had been scheduled for liftoff on Monday night from launching pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“This was an easy decision to make,” said Forrest McCartney, the center’s director. “When you have a problem that has as serious a consequence as this one, you want to take it slow and do it right.”

The goal of the flight is classified. But sources and published reports have said that Discovery’s payload is a 6,000-pound spy satellite capable of eavesdropping on Soviet military communications.

The countdown to launching had been scheduled to begin on Friday, but NASA officials said Tuesday that the flight had been put off to no earlier than next Wednesday because of concern about potential wiring problems in electrical units attached to each of Discovery’s solid-fuel boosters.

In addition, small leaks were found in hydraulic power units used to move the booster nozzles for steering during the first two minutes of flight.