SpaceX Aborts Launch After ‘Odd’ Rocket Engine Behaviour
SpaceX aborted its planned Dragon cargo launch to the International Space Station just seconds before liftoff today due to a "slightly odd" technical issue with the Falcon 9 rocket engine.
The delay was made "out of an abundance of caution," a SpaceX spokesman said, and came a day after engineers discovered a small helium leak in the engine's second stage.
"All systems go, except the movement trace of an upper stage engine steering hydraulic piston was slightly odd," SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk said on Twitter after the launch was scrubbed. "Standing down to investigate." Musk added that the issue was "99 per cent likely to be fine."
"But that one per cent chance isn't worth rolling the dice. Better to wait a day." The next launch attempt is scheduled for 9:38 am tomo...