Technical hitch halts US rocket launch
Print Edition
A ROCKET launch in Florida was called off at the last minute yesterday due to a potential technical glitch with the booster’s upper-stage motor, NASA said.
The Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a Dragon cargo ship for the International Space Station, was due to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:20am Eastern Standard Time. But with less than 2 minutes left in the countdown, a computer triggered an automatic abort, NASA launch commentator George Diller said.
The problem appeared to be with a piece of equipment in the Falcon 9’s upper-stage engine, he said.
The next opportunity for launch is at 5:09am EST on Friday.
When launched, the rocket is slated to separate from its upper-stage engine and Dragon capsule, and is expected to attempt an unprecedented landing on a floating platform positioned off Florida’s East Coast. If successful, the test will mark a significant step in SpaceX’s quest to develop rockets that can be refurbished and reflown.
“If you were to throw the airplane away after every trip you take it’s going to be expensive,” SpaceX vice president Hans Koenigsmann, told a prelaunch press conference.
SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk previously said he estimated the chance of a successful landing at 50 percent.
“I pretty much made that up. I have no idea,” Musk said in an interview on Reddit a few hours before yesterday’s launch attempt.
The main aim of the flight is to deliver a Dragon cargo capsule to the space station, a US$100 billion outpost that flies about 418 kilometers above Earth. The capsule is loaded with more than 2,300 kilograms of food, supplies and equipment.
The science gear includes a fruit fly experiment designed for immune system studies and an instrument to be mounted outside the station to measure clouds and aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere.
SpaceX is one of two companies making cargo runs to the station for NASA under contracts worth a combined US$3.5 billion.
The second, Orbital Sciences Corp, was sidelined in October after its Antares rocket exploded minutes after lifting off.
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