Friday’s Space X launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, which was supposed to deliver into orbit an advanced GPS satellite for the US military, was aborted just two seconds before lift-off.
The launch was scheduled for 9:43 p.m. EDT (01:43 GMT on Saturday) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch sequence was aborted by mission control two seconds before ignition. Space X would not immediately report what caused the hiccup or when another attempt would be made.
Standing down from tonight’s launch attempt of GPS III-4
The abort was the second in as many days for Space X. A different Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 60 satellites of the Starlink internet system was scheduled for launch on Thursday. But that mission was pulled just 18 seconds before lift-off due to irregular ground sensor readings.
The GPS satellite in Friday’s mission belongs to a new Block III generation of US military spacecraft providing navigation signals. The Pentagon already has three of them in orbit, delivered by Space X in December 2018 and June this year and by the United Launch Alliance in August 2019.
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