Fuel sensors force NASA to delay launch

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2007 | by Traci Watson

With less than a week of launch window left, NASA decided to delay the next attempted liftoff of shuttle Atlantis to no earlier than Saturday, after a recurrent fuel-sensor problem scrubbed Thursday's launch.

If Atlantis doesn't blast off before Dec. 14, it will have to wait until early 2008. NASA officials are eager for Atlantis to lift off this year because the shuttle's cargo, a European laboratory, is five years late getting to space.

NASA might set aside its launch requirement that three of the four fuel sensors be functional if it finds that such a move wouldn't drastically raise the safety risk, launch integration manager LeRoy Cain said.

Shortly after Thursday's launch was canceled, NASA managers said they would try getting Atlantis off the...