Editor’s note: Updated EST (0700 GMT) late Saturday at 2 p.m.
SpaceX canceled an attempt to launch a Falcon 9 on Thursday to assess the “slightly higher” pressure readings in the rocket’s upper-stage liquid oxygen tank, and officials rescheduled the company’s final mission for the year for Saturday morning. Done.
A reading sensor on the top of the Falcon 9 triggered an “auto-abortion” at T-minus 1 minute, 53 seconds, when SpaceX launched the Kennedy Space Center at 9:45 a.m. EST (1445 GMT) on Thursday. Counted in a planned liftoff from. .
The Falcon 9 launch team reset the Caltda clock to reset the Falcon 9 rocket before the end of Thursday’s three-hour launch window. Authorities eventually decided to keep the rocket on the ground so that more time could be given to assess the potential problem at an early stage.
SpaceX initially intended to launch the Falcon 9 rocket on Friday, but the company said the mission would be rescheduled late Thursday evening to allow extra time for checkouts.
A top secret salary for the US government’s spy reconnaissance agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, has climbed on top of the Falcon 9 rocket. The mission, scheduled for NRL-108, will be SpaceX’s 26th and final Falcon 9 flight in 2020, surpassing the company’s previous record of 21 in a single year in 2018.
Read our mission preview For details of the launch.
Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, said engineers were evaluating the upper stages of the rocket to read a “slightly higher” pressure reading in the liquid oxygen tank.
“Stand up today to inspect the rocket,” Muscat tweeted.
SpaceX lowered the Falcon 9 rocket horizontally at the Pell 39A Thursday evening, perhaps to inspect the second stage.
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