SpaceX Sunday Launch of Third Falcon 9 Halted

SpaceX failed to launch the Falcon 9 rocket scheduled on Sunday at the NASA’s space station in Florida. The fault was triggered by a computer error that forced the team to postpone the next mission to July 3. The rocket expected to take off with Intelsat communication Satellite at around 7.36 p.m. EDT or 2336 GMT on Monday and the weather conditions were favorable though that didn’t happen as planned.

As the Falcom 9’s engines got prepared for the ignition, the computer signals in the rocket’s control system ordered for an immediate mechanical abort. The engineers halted their tasks and started investigating the mechanical problem. It’ will now depend on how long the engineers will take to resolve the problem. The earliest time estimated is today when the rocket will be fuelled again for a 58-minute launch mission.

The launch of Intersat communication satellite will be the third in a series of launched Falcon 9 flights for the past two weeks. If the rocket would have been launched successfully on Sunday it would be the third rocket to be launched in a span of only nine days. That would have been the greatest achievement that SpaceX has obtain just in a few days.

The launch was the 10th mission of the year for SpaceX since its inception a few months ago. In 2016, the private company successfully launched eight missions to the space. This year, the company has already surpassed the mark in just six months. This means that by end of the year, SpaceX would have launched double the number of the rockets. SpaceX intends to break a record for the greatest turnaround among the launches.

Currently, both SpaceX and the Intelsat are working hard to make the Falcon 9 rocket take off before the July 4 holiday of the Air Force’s Eastern Range which would not be available to give the required support for the launch. The team has added resources necessary to make the turnaround activities take a very short time. For instance, more manpower has been added to speed up the investigations. pax

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Meenakshi Rawat

Having worked on Entertainment, Technology, and Business for four years, Meenakshi finds solace in technology, and more so in covering it. She loves to read novels, listen to music, and roam around places. You can reach Meenakshi at meenakshi@pc-tablet.com.