"The shuttle was powered up this morning as part of the initial check out of systems," NASA said, adding that leak checks are set for Friday.

The shuttle was initially set to launch on November 5 but the attempt was scrubbed after hydrogen leaks were detected.

NASA engineers said last month they had finally figured out the problem and were able to reinforce the 22-foot (seven-meter) long U-shaped aluminum brackets, called stringers, on the shuttle's external fuel tank.

Discovery's 11-day mission with its all-American crew of six is to deliver a pressurized logistics module called "Leonardo" to the International Space Station, which will be permanently attached to the space station to provide more storage space.

Astronaut Tim Kopra was supposed to be part of the crew but injured himself in a bike accident. NASA replaced him with mission specialist Steve Bowen.

The three US shuttles -- the other two are Atlantis and Endeavour -- are due to become museum pieces once the final shuttle mission takes place.

Endeavour is set for takeoff on April 19 and Atlantis is scheduled for June 28, after which the famed fleet will be retired.

earlier related report
Museum considers shuttle disasters display
Washington (UPI) Jan 31, 2011 - The Smithsonian says it may include debris from space shuttles Columbia and Challenger in a gallery dedicated to the soon-to-end U.S. shuttle program.

However, officials of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum say the Washington, D.C., display will only go forward if the families of the shuttles' fallen astronauts and NASA agree with the museum's plans. Seven crew members died in each shuttle disaster.

The artifacts, recovered after the loss of the Challenger 25 years ago last week and the loss of the Columbia eight years ago on Feb. 1, would be used to teach the public about the conditions that led to the two tragedies, curator Valerie Neal told collectSPACE.com Monday.

"We now have an exhibit environment, the new 'Moving Beyond Earth' exhibit, where we will address each of the tragedies," Neal said. "So, having an artifact related to them would be appropriate.

"It would be part of a story and it wouldn't be just an object that people would stare at and say 'Wow, that's part of the tragedy.' But it would it be an object that they could learn something from."

Whatever debris is chosen, Neal said, it would need to tell a story.

"We want to create enough of a story that [visitors] can achieve a better understanding [of the tragedies]. If the object helped to accomplish that, then I think it would be appropriate to display the object," explained Neal.

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