SpaceX aims for Wednesday Falcon 9 launch from KSC
SpaceX might be ready Wednesday evening for a third attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center with an Intelsat communications satellite.
The Air Force has approved a potential liftoff at 7:35 p.m., at the opening of a nearly one-hour window at pad 39A.
No weather forecast was available.
However, SpaceX was not expected to confirm the mission’s status before Wednesday morning.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the company had not reported the cause of the computer-triggered abort that scrubbed Monday’s countdown with 10 seconds left, in a repeat of Sunday’s late scrub.
There was no guarantee launch teams would identify and fix the problem in time to proceed with a countdown Wednesday.
“Out of an abundance of caution, SpaceX will be spending the Fourth of July doing a full review of the rocket and launch pad systems,” the company said on its website. “The next launch opportunity for Intelsat 35e … is now no earlier than Wednesday.”
Earlier, CEO Elon Musk had said the launch would not occur before Wednesday or Thursday to allow time for that review.
“Only one chance to get it right,” he said.
Intelsat, the Luxembourg-headquartered commercial satellite operator that has invested several hundred million dollars in the launch of its fourth Epic satellite, surely agrees.
Despite the consecutive scrubs, SpaceX is still trying to launch its third mission in less than two weeks, which would be an impressive achievement.
Because the rocket is lifting a heavy, nearly 15,000-pound satellite to a high orbit, no booster landing will be attempted.
If the launch slips to Thursday, it would coincide with another high-profile event at KSC.
Space industry heavyweights are expected to descend on the spaceport to welcome Vice President Mike Pence, who will deliver a speech inside the Vehicle Assembly Building and tour the facilities.
Pence will chair a newly revived National Space Council, a development President Trump announced last Friday in a White House ceremony.