Hurricane delays shuttle launch

Nasa’s first shuttle launch in four months was postponed today because of Hurricane Lili.

The space agency did not want to take a chance of launching Atlantis tomorrow only to have the hurricane bear down on Houston, home to Mission Control. So Nasa halted the countdown and said the launch in Florida would not go ahead before Thursday.

It meant disappointment for Piers Sellers, 47, from Crowborough, East Sussex, who will become only the third Briton to enter space.

The mission to deliver another girder to the international space station is already six weeks late because of cracked pipes that needed to be repaired.

This is the first time in 41 years of human spaceflight that a launch has been delayed by the possibility of bad weather 900 miles away in Houston. Severe tropical weather has postponed shuttle missions before, but only when it threatened Florida.

“It’s a little discouraging to get yourself this far and get ready for launch and have good weather, basically, in Florida and then find out you have this threat in the Gulf Coast,” said shuttle programme manager Ron Dittemore. “But there’s no rush.”

If Houston becomes Lili’s target, Nasa will put off the launch until the hurricane passes, Dittemore said.

Nasa can run a space shuttle flight from a launch control room at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida but it would be impossible to manage a space station docking from there or the three spacewalks planned for Atlantis’ mission, Dittemore said.

Atlantis’ crew members will be the first visitors for the one American and two Russians who have been living aboard the space station since June.