Technical glitch delays US shuttle launch

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AFP) — NASA postponed the planned launch of the space shuttle Atlantis from Friday to Saturday, due to a "complex" technical glitch just hours before it was due to blast off.

"We no longer have an opportunity to launch tomorrow, our earliest opportunity we are working to right now is Saturday," Leroy Caine, chairman of the mission management team, (MMT) told reporters here after NASA officials held hours of discussions.

Earlier, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had postponed the launch 24 hours until Friday.

The problem, which came to light before the craft was due to take off Thursday on its 11-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS), concerned two of the four gauges on the shuttle's external fuel...