CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A grounded space shuttle. Countless months trying to fix foam insulation problems on the fuel tank. A faulty fuel tank sensor that delayed a launch in May.

If this list looks familiar, it should.

With a possible liftoff of Discovery just seven days away, NASA is dealing with many of the same problems it faced almost a year ago in what could be called the space agency’s version of the movie “Groundhog Day.”

The shuttle program manager, Wayne Hale, acknowledges that. But he contends progress is being made. “In terms of the foam, we are so much smarter this year than we were last year,” he says.

Smarter, but still unable to stop it from flying off the shuttle’s external tank.

Despite a redesign of the tank, foam continued to drop off last year during the launch of Discovery. For the upcoming launch, set for July 1, engineers have modified the tank even further by removing about 35 pounds of foam in areas where a foam chunk dropped off last year.

“Foam will come off. There’s no way around that. It is an expected event,” said John Chapman, NASA’s external tank project manager. “Our objective is to make sure if it does come off, it comes off in small enough pieces that it doesn’t cause any harm.”

NASA managers have acknowledged that another fatal mistake could ground the three remaining shuttles before the international space station is finished being built. It also could rule out any chances of a repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Since Discovery’s flight last year, technicians also have replaced or removed almost a third of the shuttle’s 16,000 gap fillers.

Discovery also has added stronger insulation tiles around the vulnerable spot of the nose landing gear door, a sturdier tire and wheel system and new cameras attached to the solid rocket boosters that can capture more images of falling foam or other dangers to the shuttle and crew.

Discovery’s mission, like the previous one, is considered a test flight. Astronauts will be loaded up with experimental tasks, trying different methods of inspecting the vehicle for damage.

The shuttle crew also will deliver 5,100 pounds of cargo, including an oxygen generation system that can support a space station crew of six, and a laboratory freezer. They will haul back 4,700 pounds of cargo, including lots of trash.

“We have a lot of stuff onboard the space station that we need to get rid of,” said U.S. flight engineer Jeff Will.

NASA managers said they’ll only breathe easily once Discovery returns safely to Kennedy Space Center.

“We are home free only when the wheels stop rolling on the runway,” Hale said.