CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A mechanical problem with a pair of fuel sensors forced NASA mission managers to postpone Thursday afternoon’s attempt to launch shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts.
The space agency tentatively plans to try again today, with liftoff scheduled at 2:09 p.m. MST, though the problem could cause an additional delay.
If the shuttle is not launched by next Thursday, NASA will wait until the first week in January.
“We’re keeping all our options open,” said Doug Lyons, shuttle launch director for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. “We still have reason to believe we will get off in December, and we’re confident we’ll get there.”
The glitch involves hydrogen-fuel sensors in the shuttle’s huge external tank that have been troublesome in the past — causing a 13-day delay in a 2005 flight by Discovery. This time, two of the four “engine-cutoff” sensors in the tank attached to Atlantis are not performing properly, technicians reported.
Extremely important components, the sensors ensure that the shuttle’s main engines don’t shut down too soon or too late during liftoff. The space agency’s rules require at least three working sensors.
“It’s a system that’s critical to us, so we certainly want it to operate when we go fly,” Lyons said.
The scrub came as thousands of holiday-season vacationers headed to the area from Orlando and elsewhere, hoping to watch the launch from the beaches and riverbanks that surround Kennedy Space Center.
