SpaceX launch aborted - Daily Nation

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Photo/ROBERTO GONZALEZ/Getty Images/AFP The engines of the SpaceX Falcon 9 light but fail to launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 19, 2012 in Titusville, Florida. The launch in the early hours of Saturday morning would have made SpaceX the first commercial company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station.  

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, Saturday

Engineers have aborted the launch of a privately built spacecraft on a landmark mission to the International Space Station at the last second on Saturday due to a rocket engine problem.

The California-based company SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its Dragon capsule a half-second before lift-off after an engine controller noted high pressure in the center engine of the Falcon 9 rocket, forcing the shutdown.

"This is not failure. We aborted with purpose. It would be a failure if we were to have lifted off with an engine trending in this direction," SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell told reporters.

All nine engines are required for a successful lift-off. Elevated temperatures could have caused the high pressure in engine five, possibly from too little fuel flowing into it, though it is too early to know for certain.

"We're going to have to spend more time looking at the data," Shotwell said.

While SpaceX has a next launch opportunity on Tuesday at 3:44 am (0744 GMT), the date of the next attempt will remain uncertain until inspectors determine the root cause of the engine problem.

Another launch window opens up on Wednesday at 3:22 am (0722 GMT).

A team of technicians will not be able to begin inspecting the defective engine until midday, when they can access the rocket, and Shotwell warned it could take several days to replace it.

A similar issue with engine five forced a temporary delay of the Falcon 9's first-ever flight, but that lift-off was not scrubbed because there was a longer launch window and SpaceX was able to renew the attempt, Shotwell said.

However, this time there was a very narrow window of opportunity to launch toward the ISS so the attempt was put off entirely.

"We will be out there looking for whatever we can find and we will put out a statement as soon as we find a root cause," Shotwell said, adding that early indications have ruled out a sensor failure or a faulty fuel valve.