With 3 Seconds to Blastoff, Shuttle Mission Is Halted

Two main engines ignited and space shuttle Columbia was engulfed by the familiar white cloud signaling a launch. Then, with just three seconds to go, the engines shut down.

Officials in the launch control room gasped. Television viewers felt a ripple of alarm. But NASA says the seven astronauts aboard the German-sponsored laboratory research mission were never in any danger when computers aborted the launch Monday.

Inside the shuttle, Cmdr. Steven Nagel knew what had happened because of the red lights that came on in the cockpit.

Nagel told his crew: “Everything’s OK, just sit tight.”

He later told reporters: “There weren’t many moments of worry. It’s mostly just disappointment.”

The launch was delayed for at least three more weeks. It was only the third time in shuttle history that engines shut down on the launch pad.

After two of Columbia’s three main engines ignited in the final 6 1/2 seconds of the countdown for the scheduled 9:51 a.m. launch, a valve in the third one apparently failed to close, said shuttle projects manager Alex McCool.

That built pressure in a line that is supposed to purge moisture and other waste from the engine, so the engine did not ignite properly, McCool said.

The five Americans and two Germans emerged from the shuttle cockpit 45 minutes after the aborted countdown. As German physicist Ulrich Walter crawled out of the hatch, Rudolf Teuwsen, a spokesman for Germany’s space agency, said: “I’ve never seen him that depressed.”

The nine-day mission had been delayed repeatedly over the past six weeks to replace engine pumps and hydraulic hoses. Germany has invested $560 million in this mission. German program director Heinz Stoewer said every day of delay adds substantially to Germany’s expenses, but he would not say how much.