The problem was detected three weeks ago on the shuttle Atlantis.

It had been turned off for nine days during the visit of the shuttle Atlantis, which has its own oxygen supplies.

He said the recorder would be removed and replaced with one from the shuttle Atlantis.

The shuttle Atlantis will be carrying a secret military payload.

The target was a wing panel borrowed from the shuttle Atlantis, on which it had been through 27 flights.

Thruster control was passed to the shuttle Atlantis, which has enough fuel to provide the attitude adjustment service for several days.

The satellite, it said, would be deployed from the shuttle Atlantis and boosted into an orbit 460 miles high.

The shuttle Atlantis sustained such damage on a flight in November.

A20 Launching of the shuttle Atlantis was postponed for up to a week.

The flight of the shuttle Atlantis is a strictly military operation cloaked in secrecy.