Piers is not interested in becoming famous; he is just a hard-working Brit who had to become an American to go into space

Mandy Sellers

But the weather problem has nothing to do with unfavourable conditions at the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; rather it is the threat posed by the storm to mission control at Houston in Texas.

It is the first time in 41 years of human spaceflight that a launch has been delayed by the possibility of bad weather 1,450 kilometres (900 miles) away from Kennedy itself.

"The hurricane threat is usually here; it's not in Houston," said Nasa spokesman George Diller in Florida. "We kind of feel like, been there, done that.

"In a way, it's kind of paradoxical to see this going on in Houston when it's usually the cape that has the problems."

British objection

The latest shuttle mission will deliver another girder to the International Space Station. From start to finish, the flight will last 11 days.

The delay means UK-born crew member Piers Sellers will have to wait a little longer before he can become the third Brit in space.

Sellers, 47, is now officially a US citizen, but comes originally from Crowborough in East Sussex.

The British Government does not support manned flight and will not fund UK citizens to go through the official European astronaut training programme.

Hard work

Those who want to go into space have to become US citizens, like Sellars and Michael Foale before him. Helen Sharman who flew on Mir in 1991 got into orbit by winning a competition.

Piers Sellers' wife Mandy said that her husband had reached this point through "sheer determination and hard work".

She said: "When I met him as a student he had the model of Apollo on the wall, and I used to think: 'Yeah, that won't ever happen' - and I think he thought the same.

"Piers is not interested in becoming famous; he is just a hard-working Brit who had to become an American to go into space."