After about four months of delay: Discovery will be launched on Thursday

This is after NASA experts confirmed that the malfunction in the external fuel tank that prevented the penultimate launch of shuttles in four months has been fixed

NASA administrators announced the shuttle Discovery as ready for launch on a mission to the International Space Station. This follows tests that were conducted on her every Friday. The Discovery is scheduled for launch on Thursday, February 24, at 16:50 PM EST, 23:50 PM Israel Time.
"We had a comprehensive review work," says Bill Greenmeyer, NASA's Deputy Chief for Space Operations. "Things are looking pretty good."
Managers, engineers, and subcontractors went through all the detail analysis and test performance and examined the support panels on the Discovery's external fuel tank and reviewed the repairs and changes that were made. The repair and testing processes involved people from all NASA centers.
The team also reviewed a recent personnel change when astronaut Steve Brown replaced Tim Kupra who was injured in a bicycle accident. "Above all, the team is in good shape and feels comfortable with these changes," says Mike Moses, chairman of the mission management team.
Discovery is scheduled to launch after Launch 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Counting will begin on Monday at 15:00 PM EST. "We are in a good position in the launch pad" added Mike Leinbach, the launch manager.