SpaceX rocket launch scrubbed for third time

SpaceX rocket launch: A possible glitch with the Falcon 9 rocket postponed Sunday's satellite launch. The next launch opportunity is on Tuesday.

|
John Raoux/AP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of Orbcomm communications satellites is seen at launch complex 40 after an attempted launch was scrubbed due to technical issues at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday.

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, postponed for a third time the launch of six commercial communication satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, officials said on Sunday.

Liftoff of the privately owned company's Falcon 9 rocket had been slated for 5:30 p.m. EDT/2130 GMT. Aboard the rocket are six small satellites owned by Orbcomm Inc, which provides machine-to-machine data and messaging services worldwide.

SpaceX, which is owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been trying since Friday to launch what would be its 10th Falcon 9 rocket, a medium-lift booster that also flies cargo capsules to the International Space Station for NASA. SpaceX is pursuing U.S. military launch contracts as well, hoping to break a monopoly by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin .

Friday's launch attempt was called off due to a potential technical problem with the rocket's upper-stage engine. No other information about the issue was provided bySpaceX, though the glitch apparently was cleared in time for a second launch attempt on Saturday. That attempt was canceled because of poor weather at the launch site.

SpaceX rescheduled a launch for Sunday but encountered another technical issue. It was not known if the glitch was related to the upper-stage engine issue that surfaced on Friday. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The ... launch attempt has been scrubbed to address a potential concern identified during pre-flight checks," SpaceX wrote on its website.

"The vehicle and payload are in good condition, and engineering teams will take the extra time to ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to flight," it said.

The next launch opportunity is on Tuesday.

SpaceX said it had planned to restore a webcast and commentary for Sunday's launch attempt after imposing an unprecedented media blackout for Saturday's launch try.

"For the first time since the end of the Cold War, a space launch from Cape Canaveral will not be broadcast to the press and the public," Spaceflightnow.com, which provides live launch coverage, wrote on its website on Saturday.

The blackout spurred an angry backlash on Twitter. The company did not respond to questions about why it canceled Saturday's launch commentary and webcast or why it planned to reverse itself for Sunday's launch attempt.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to SpaceX rocket launch scrubbed for third time
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0623/SpaceX-rocket-launch-scrubbed-for-third-time
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe