"We probably won't make the September 22 window," said Bill Gerstenmaier, who is leading an investigation into why pieces of foam insulation fell off Discovery's massive external fuel tank upon launch on July 26.

He said two engineering teams examining the possible causes of the problem would need more time to make their assessment and probably modify the external tank.

"We didn't find anything that showed the specific root cause, we just need to keep looking," said Gerstenmaier, the International Space Station's International Manager.

"More than likely, we'll have to do some minor engineering modifications to the tank," he said in a telephone news conference.

NASA already had spent 30 months and millions of dollars to improve the shuttle after foam insulation fell off Columbia's tank and damaged the left wing, causing the orbiter to disintegrate upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board on February 1, 2003.

But foam again tore off the tank of Space Shuttle Discovery, which safely landed in California Tuesday.

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