With a 60 percent chance that cloudy skies and rain will thwart launch attempts Saturday and Sunday, liftoff could be delayed by a day or more, officials said.

Other than weather concerns, NASA officials declared Discovery ready to go at 3:48 pm (1948 GMT) Saturday on a key mission to the International Space Station (ISS) despite lingering concerns over safety.

"There are no issues at all that would affect Saturday's launch of the space shuttle Discovery," NASA test director Jeff Spaulding told a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center.

"While it has taken nearly a year of hard work to get back to this point, I am proud to announce that the vehicle, our launch team and the flight crew are all ready for launch," Spaulding said.

NASA has insisted that the space agency has strived to make the flight as safe as possible for the seven astronauts, despite concerns over potentially damaging debris striking Discovery during the launch.

Columbia's demise was caused by foam insulation that fell off its external fuel tank during liftoff and pierced its protective heat shield, causing it to disintegrate as it returned to Earth in February 2003.

Foam peeled off Discovery's fuel tank last year in the first post-disaster flight, but the debris missed the shuttle.

NASA's decision to press ahead with this launch has been criticized since its chief safety officer and top engineer called for a delay to redesign potentially damaging foam insulation.

Two leading US newspapers this week said the mission was not worth the risk.

"Instead of risking another tragic or humiliating setback Saturday, NASA should abandon the shuttle and focus on more productive missions," the Los Angeles Times said Thursday in an editorial.

The New York Times last Sunday said the decision to launch was primarily driven by budgetary considerations and the US administration's decision to honor its commitment to international partners to finish the ISS.

The newspapers dismissed the ISS's scientific value.

"The aging shuttles are a diminishing asset, required primarily to finish the space station, which is itself of only marginal scientific value," The New York Times said.

A glitch-free mission is essential to the future of the US space program as another major incident would likely immediately shut down the 25-year-old shuttle program, which is set to retire in 2010.

More than 100 cameras have been placed on ground locations and on aircraft to film the shuttle as it blasts off to check for any loose foam.

The astronauts will have the option of abandoning ship if the shuttle suffers irreparable damage and take refuge in the ISS while waiting for rescue.

NASA officials have acknowledged that they have been unable to guarantee that some amount of foam will not shed again, but they say it would not necessarily jeopardize the mission.

The shuttle has a July 1-19 launch window for the mission to deliver equipment and supplies for the ISS.

The 115th shuttle flight will be headed by commander Steven Lindsey. His crew includes co-pilot Mark Kelly, and mission specialists Michael Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and the European Space Agency's Thomas Reiter of Germany.

During the STS-121 mission, the astronauts will carefully inspect the shuttle for any damage and test new equipment and procedures to increase safety.

Fossum and Sellers will conduct two or three space walks to do maintenance work on the space station. Reiter will then remain in the ISS, joining American astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov.

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