The launch is scheduled for 6:46 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with a 90-minute launch window. A new launch day has not yet been set.
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No explanation was given for the cancellation, but it’s believed to be related to issues with loading the rocket with liquid oxygen.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch has been delayed for a second time in two days. But what makes this launch special is that SpaceX will once again try to recover the first stage booster from the rocket, this time using a drone operated landing ship. Yes.
During the live broadcast, the Falcon 9 Product Director John Insprucker said that preliminary information indicated that the launch was scrubbed to ensure that “liquid oxygen temperatures were as cold as possible to maximize performance of the vehicle”.
SpaceX’s mission on this occasion was to carry an SES-9 commercial communications satellite into orbit.
Perched atop the rocket is a 12,613-lb (5,721 kg) Boeing Co-built satellite owned by Luxembourg-based network operator SES SA.
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Once the satellite is safely boosted into geostationary orbit, the first stage of the rocket will try to land itself at sea – which SpaceX doesn’t think will go well (“a successful landing is not expected”).
