The recent discovery of cocaine in a restricted hangar of Space Shuttle Discovery at Florida's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has prompted NASA to conduct a safety review of the space shuttle which is being prepared for a March 18 launch.

A 'small' bag of cocaine was found outside a bathroom of Processing Facility No. 3 on Thursday, by one of the employees of the Kennedy Space Center.

What is more embarrassing is that only a day before the cocaine discovery, NASA officials had held a Safety Countdown as part of a promotion underscoring the final five missions of the shuttle!

Talking about the disquieting discovery, the Center Director Bob Cabana said that employees working on the orbiter are not allowed to use "illegal substances," and added that the matter will be strictly looked into.

NASA's decision to conduct a safety review comes over and above the order pertaining to random drug tests for the nearly 200 employees who have access to the facility. The NASA officials do not expect the cocaine discovery to cause any delay in the 2010 schedule of the shuttle fleet.

Cabana said in a statement: "This is a rare and isolated incident, and I'm disappointed that it happened. There is no reason whatsoever to believe this incident will have any impact on Discovery's upcoming launch."