WASHINGTON, Aug 18: Nasa has been forced to delay the next launch of a space shuttle until March 2006 because more time is needed to fix a problem with foam flying off the external fuel tank, space agency officials said on Thursday.

“From an overall standpoint we think really March 4 is the timeframe we are looking at,” Bill Gerstenmaier, Nasa’s associate administrator for Space Operations, told a news conference.

The announcement came just a day after some members of an oversight panel accused the agency of compromising safety in the rush to return to flight.

Nasa is still trying to determine why a large piece of foam broke off the shuttle Discovery’s fuel tank during launch last month, Gerstenmaier said.

The shuttle Columbia was torn apart when it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on Feb 1, 2003, after a piece of foam insulation fell off its tank during launch and damaged its wing. All seven of Columbia’s crewmembers were killed.—Reuters