Last-minute technical issues forced SpaceX to cancel its attempt Monday to send four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.
The countdown is suspended just two minutes before liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. There was no time to fix the problem, which involved the engines ignition system.
SpaceX did not immediately indicate when it would try again. However, it may be as early as Tuesday, although bad weather is expected on the East Coast of the United States in the Emergency Ship Recovery Area.
In the capsule at the top of the Falcon rocket, two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates, Sultan Al Neyadi, were the first from that country to be assigned to a month-long mission. They had to wait until all of the fuel had been removed from the rocket—an hour-long process—before exiting.
“We’ll just sit here waiting,” Commander Stephen Bowen declared. “We all feel good.”
Bowen and his crew will replace four space station residents who have been there since October.
Authorities indicated that the problem was related to the ground equipment used to load the ignition fluid for the engines. The launch team couldn’t confirm that it was fully charged. A SpaceX engineer said that this important system is like the spark plugs in a car.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Division receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group. AP is solely responsible for all content.
“Creator. Troublemaker. Hardcore alcohol lover. Web evangelist. Extreme pop culture practitioner. Devoted zombie scholar. Avid introvert.”