Sussex spaceman Piers Sellers' blast-off to the international space station has been delayed by Hurricane Lili.

Piers, originally from Crowborough, had been preparing to join five other astronauts on the 11-day Nasa mission to the space station tonight.

However, Nasa halted the countdown amid fears that the hurricane was approaching Mission Control in Houston, Texas, - 900 miles from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida where the launch was taking place.

A Nasa spokesman said the launch would now not take place before tomorrow.

Sellers will be the third British astronaut, following in the footsteps of Brits Helen Sharman and Michael Foale when the shuttle, Atlantis, eventually takes off.

The 47-year-old has spent the last few days living in a beach house with members of his family.

They are thought to include his wife Mandy, 46, children Tom, 14, and Imogen, 17, and his mother Lindsey, 73.

A Nasa spokeswoman said: "He has gone through all this training for the last year so I am sure he will be very excited when he is on the launch pad."

Like Michael Foale, who has dual British-US nationality because his mother is from the States, Sellers had to become a US citizen to achieve his goal.

He now lives in Houston, Texas, close to the Nasa centre.

He is expected to attempt three space walks as part of the Atlantis mission to continue the process of building a 350ft truss that helps heat and light the station.