Narrative:

The airport was runway 28 right for arrivals and runway 1 left for departures due to an asphalt failure on runway 28 left where personnel and equipment infringed on runway 1 right. The spacing on final dictated that we could get aircraft X out between two arrivals. I had coordinated final approach speed with finals for aircraft Y. When the preceding arrival crossed the threshold; local told aircraft X to line up and wait and be ready. They acknowledged. When the preceding arrival cleared the runway; local told aircraft X traffic three mile final; cleared for takeoff. There was no response; and they waited a few seconds to see if exhaust was indicating the power up for takeoff roll. Nothing; so local cleared them again stating traffic two mile final. Again no reply at all. Then local cleared them for immediate takeoff with traffic two mile final. They acknowledged. There was a five knot headwind; so it was iffy at best. The operation was looking good for the 6;000 foot runway spacing; but the rotation to airborne was not happening. Local sent aircraft Y around and assigned 260 heading and 3;100 feet. Aircraft Y was able to get the information read back and completed their turn prior to midfield. The two aircraft were shipped to departure. A minute or so later; aircraft Y was showing low altitude/terrain warning as they were level at 1;800 feet 3 miles west southwest of sfo. They had slowed their climb while accelerating. Shortly thereafter the low altitude alert went away. I did not have time to call to check on them prior to the alert going away. I am not sure why it took three attempts to communicate the takeoff clearance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SFO Controller reported a B777 did not respond to takeoff clearances in a timely manner requiring a go-around for traffic on final; resulting in a low altitude/terrain warning.

Narrative: The airport was Runway 28 Right for arrivals and Runway 1 Left for departures due to an asphalt failure on Runway 28 Left where personnel and equipment infringed on Runway 1 Right. The spacing on final dictated that we could get Aircraft X out between two arrivals. I had coordinated final approach speed with Finals for Aircraft Y. When the preceding arrival crossed the threshold; Local told Aircraft X to line up and wait and be ready. They acknowledged. When the preceding arrival cleared the runway; Local told Aircraft X traffic three mile final; cleared for takeoff. There was no response; and they waited a few seconds to see if exhaust was indicating the power up for takeoff roll. Nothing; so Local cleared them again stating traffic two mile final. Again no reply at all. Then Local cleared them for immediate takeoff with traffic two mile final. They acknowledged. There was a five knot headwind; so it was iffy at best. The operation was looking good for the 6;000 foot runway spacing; but the rotation to airborne was not happening. Local sent Aircraft Y around and assigned 260 heading and 3;100 feet. Aircraft Y was able to get the information read back and completed their turn prior to midfield. The two aircraft were shipped to Departure. A minute or so later; Aircraft Y was showing low altitude/terrain warning as they were level at 1;800 feet 3 miles west southwest of SFO. They had slowed their climb while accelerating. Shortly thereafter the low altitude alert went away. I did not have time to call to check on them prior to the alert going away. I am not sure why it took three attempts to communicate the takeoff clearance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.