Shuttle heating problem looms over launch

A heating problem in a critical water drainage line loomed over today’s planned launch of the US space shuttle Atlantis, threatening again to delay a British born man’s bid to fly into space.

Piers Sellers, originally from Crowborough, East Sussex, is preparing to join five other astronauts on the 11-day Nasa journey to the international space station (ISS).

The 47-year-old was due to leave last Wednesday but Nasa officials delayed the launch as Hurricane Lili threatened mission control in Houston, Texas.

Sellers is hoping to follow in the space steps of Britons Helen Sharman and Michael Foale when Atlantis finally launches from Florida.

He is due to attempt three spacewalks during the mission, which is part of an on-going project to attach a 350ft truss to the ISS.

But the craft’s on-board heater was running at too high a temperature yesterday. If the temperature in the line were to increase dramatically, equipment could be damaged, possibly even Atlantis’ electricity-producing fuel cells.

But Nasa hoped to have the problem fixed in time for lIft-off later today.

“I feel preliminarily confident that we are going to be able to find a path through this wilderness and make a run at a launch countdown,” said Jim Halsell, chairman of the mission management team.

“But I need the engineers to come tell us that, instead of making guesses on my own.”

The trouble is with one of three lines used to flush out water that is a by-product of Atlantis’ fuel cells.

The heater for this backup line, needed to stop it freezing, appears to be on the wrong setting because of a bad controller.

If the hard-to-reach heater controller needs to be replaced, Atlantis could face another delay of several days.

The space shuttle should have blasted off in August, but was grounded along with the rest of the fleet by hairline cracks in the pipes carrying hydrogen fuel to the main engines.

Then Hurricane Lili threatened Mission Control last week, forcing the unprecedented shutdown of the Houston control rooms.

Mission Control was back in operation yesterday and everything finally seemed to be falling into place – until the heater acted up.

Sellers has spent the last week living in a beach house with members of his family who have travelled to the Kennedy Space Centre to watch the launch.

They are thought to include his wife Mandy, 46, children Tom, 14, and Imogen, 17 – who normally all live in Houston – and his mother Lindsey, 73, who lives in London.