"It was a software glitch, but they resolved the problem and will try again soon," spokesman William Jeff said at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston.
"This problem has delayed the (begining of) deployment of the solar arrays by about three hours," he added.
Another attempt to unfurl the panel will be made after fixing the faulty software which controls a 360-degree rotation system allowing the solar arrays to track the sun.
Once unfurled, the solar arrays will measure 240 feet (73 meters) long and will ultimately provide a quarter of the ISS's power once the outpost is completed.
They are part of a 16-tonne truss segment that was attached to the station on Tuesday using a robotic arm.
On Wednesday, two Atlantis astronauts went on a seven-hour spacewalk, the second of three in their mission, to remove launch restraints on the solar arrays that prevented damage when Atlantis was launched on its 11-day mission on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.