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1 of 2 | SpaceX abruptly scrubs its motorboat of 23 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit conscionable 2 minutes earlier lift-off Wednesday night, astatine NASA's Kennedy Space Center successful Florida, soon aft announcing "all systems and upwind are presently go." SpaceX said it will target Thursday instead. Photo courtesy of SpaceX
March 13 (UPI) -- SpaceX scrubbed its motorboat of 23 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit conscionable 2 minutes earlier lift-off Wednesday night, announcing it would target Thursday instead.
"Standing down from tonight's Falcon 9 motorboat of Starlink," SpaceX announced astatine 10 p.m. EDT in a post connected X.
The satellites were loaded atop nan Falcon 9 rocket astatine NASA's Kennedy Space Center successful Florida, erstwhile nan countdown was abruptly halted. No logic for nan hold was given.
"Propellant load has begun for tonight's motorboat of 23 Starlink satellites from Florida. All systems and upwind are presently spell for launch," SpaceX announced in a post conscionable 20 minutes earlier nan scheduled lift-off.
With 2 minutes to go, nan countdown was put connected hold.
The mission, which is now scheduled for Thursday, will spot nan booster stage separate from nan remainder of nan conveyance soon aft motorboat and onshore connected nan drone vessel A Shortfall of Gravitas in nan Atlantic Ocean.
The booster that will transportation nan Starlink satellites into orbit antecedently launched 11 Starlink missions, arsenic good arsenic nan Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT DADR-8, GPS II Space Vehicle 04, GPS II Space Vehicle 05 and Inspiration4 missions.
SpaceX launched 46 Starlink satellites into orbit via 2 abstracted launches Sunday from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and California's Vandenberg Space Force Base.
On Thursday, SpaceX plans to motorboat a 3rd test of its Starship rocket, aiming to effort ascent burns connected its first and 2nd stages, unfastened and adjacent Starship payload doors, execute a propellant transportation objection during nan precocious stage's seashore shape and a re-light of a Raptor motor while successful space.
"A 110-minute opens astatine 7:00 a.m. CT," SpaceX said in a post showing Starship. The rocket will motorboat from SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas motorboat facilities, wherever nan rocket's first 2 attempts to scope abstraction were launched from past year.
SpaceX hopes to propulsion disconnected a controlled re-entry of Starship and person it scatter down successful nan Indian Ocean.
Starship, nan largest conveyance ever built to beryllium lifted to space, is portion of NASA's scheme to return to nan moon. Two erstwhile tests resulted successful disassembly.
