Virginian’s Shuttle Liftoff Delayed

NASA hopes to launch the shuttle Atlantis tomorrow after troublesome fuel sensors scrubbed Lynchburg native Leland Melvin’s first spaceflight.

The launch is now scheduled for 3:43 p.m. tomorrow.

Yesterday’s countdown to an afternoon liftoff was halted shortly before 10 a.m. when two backup gauges failed as NASA was filling the shuttle’s fuel tank and testing four engine-cutoff sensors in the liquid hydrogen section.

The sensors are part of a critical backup system to ensure that the shuttle’s main engines don’t shut down too soon or too late during liftoff. NASA’s launch criteria require at least three of the tank’s four sensors be working to launch.

"We need more time," LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team, said last night.

Melvin, 43, was a chemistry major who played football at the University of Richmond. After a short, injury-ridden career with the NFL, he worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton as a materials scientist before he was named to the astronaut corps in 1998.

Nearly 300 friends and relatives had traveled to Florida to watch Melvin’s launch, including his parents, Grace and Deems Melvin of Lynchburg; his sister, Cathy Clarke of Rustburg, his former Heritage High School chemistry teacher, Cornelia Campbell of Lynchburg; and several former UR teammates.

Melvin called Clarke with news of the delay as they gathered for a breakfast reception before the launch. Clarke held her cell phone to a microphone so Melvin could be heard.

"Things happen," Clarke said. "That’s the nature of the launches."

Melvin thanked everyone for attending and apologized to those who would be unable to stay for the next liftoff attempt.

"We actually got to hear from him what’s going on," said Phillip Scott of Chesterfield County, a childhood friend of Melvin’s who brought his wife, Angela, and daughter, Alexis, to see the launch.

It was a disappointment, but "obviously safety is the number one priority," said Bill Prosser, a former Langley colleague who attended the reception.

The launch window extends only to next Thursday because of temperature and power issues related to the space station’s orbit relative to the sun. If Atlantis does not launch by then, its mission will be delayed until at least Jan. 2.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.