3 SECONDS BEFORE LIFTOFF, LAUNCH HALTED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 23, 1993                   TAG: 9303230057
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short
3 SECONDS BEFORE LIFTOFF, LAUNCH 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. 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, commander 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 - for a mission initially scheduled for five years ago, but postponed by the 1986 explosion of shuttle Challenger and by lesser problems in the past six weeks.
It was only the third time in shuttle history that engines shut down on the launch pad.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB