NASA delays Atlantis shuttle launch by a month

NASA yesterday delayed the launch of space shuttle Atlantis until January after a gauge in the fuel tank failed for the second time in four days.

With only days remaining in the launch window for the shuttle’s mission to the international space station, senior managers decided to stand down until next month in hopes of better understanding the perplexing and persistent fuel gauge problem.

The trouble with the gauge resurfaced at sunrise yesterday, an hour after the launch team began filling Atlantis’ external tank for an afternoon liftoff.

Shuttle managers had said they would call everything off if any of the four hydrogen fuel gauges acted up. Three failed during last Thursday’s launch attempt. Launch director Doug Lyons said yesterday’s failure was similar to what happened before, except only one gauge malfunctioned this time.

NASA spokesman George Diller said: “This may give us some data points that we did not have as to what may be behind this problem. So essentially our launch attempt this morning has turned into a tanking test.”

NASA had until this Thursday to launch Atlantis with the European Space Agency’s space station laboratory, Columbus. After that, unfavourable sun angles and computer concerns would make it impossible for the shuttle to fly to the International Space Station until January.

The main task of the mission is delivery and installation of the European agency’s Columbus space laboratory to the ISS. The 21-tonne, €880 million module is designed to carry out experiments that would be impossible in the gravity experienced at the Earth’s surface.

The arrival of the European space lab at the ISS will mark the end of a 12-year effort for Europe to establish its first permanent base in space.