Astronaut’s Sore Throat Delays Atlantis’ Blastoff

Atlantis’ commander got a sore throat today, forcing NASA to postpone for at least 24 hours the launch of the space shuttle on a secret, all-military mission to put a spy satellite in orbit.

“We’ve never had a postponement due to the illness of an astronaut. This is the first time in the space program,” NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said.

A space agency statement said a bad weather forecast was also a factor in the postponement, but officials said that if not for the illness, they would have continued the countdown, hoping for clear skies by launch time early Thursday.

NASA said Navy Capt. John O. Creighton “developed an upper respiratory tract infection during the last 24 hours.”

“The commander’s health and weather will be evaluated on Thursday to determine if the launch will be attempted on Friday morning,” the statement said.

In 1970, astronaut Thomas K. Mattingly was taken off the Apollo 13 crew a few days before the flight was to lift off for the moon. But backup astronaut Jack Swigert replaced him without delaying the flight.

The announcement came shortly before technicians were to begin pumping more than half a million gallons of propellant into Atlantis’ fuel tank for the four-day mission, which was to end at Edwards Air Force Base.

A bleak weather forecast early today had gradually improved to a 50-50 chance for a launch Thursday. But the outlook for Friday and Saturday is even worse, with one cold front moving out and another moving in.

Because the Pentagon mission is classified, the space agency would not provide the exact launch time, saying only that it would occur between midnight and 4 a.m. Thursday. However, sources said Atlantis was to lift off at 1 a.m.

Atlantis’ orbit reportedly will cover a greater area of the globe than any previous shuttle.