The launch was called off by the flight team, but the misbehaving actuator would have triggered an automatic abort had they not intervened. The problem was with a thrust vector control actuator in the second stage of the rocket. The first stage, which SpaceX hoped to land on their ocean platform, was ready for launch.
There won’t be a press briefing on the scrubbed launch, but we’ll be back on Friday when we hope the mission will go ahead as planned. Join us then for more insights into how hard it really is to do rocket science.
The countdown was aborted because of a misbehaving actuator that is used to steer the rocket in flight. That was very late in the countdown. The next launch window is 10.09 GMT on Friday. Let’s hope SpaceX can get the actuator problem fixed by then.
Countdown aborted for this morning. That’s a scrub for today. Looks like a problem with the second stage of the rocket. More to come.
We have a hold. Clock stopped.
Four minutes to launch. The first stage of the rocket has been fitted with new fins that will help to guide it down to the landing platform. Or as close as they can get to it. In previous tests, they have achieved an accuracy in landing of around 10km. Today they need more like 10 metres accuracy. It’s a long shot.
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The Falcon 9 rocket is now operating on internal power.
We are now seven minutes from launch and all looks good. The private space industry will be keener than ever to see a successful mission to the space station after the explosion of Orbital’s Antares rocket on a resupply mission in October last year.
What are the chances of a successful landing? SpaceX says it will be “like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm”. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, puts the odds of success at no more than 50%.
We are not expecting to have realtime video of the landing attempt from the floating platform or the rocket itself. But we should have pictures and video from those sites, or from a chase plane, within an hour of take-off.
If all goes well, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket will separate from the second stage about three minutes into the flight. The second stage will ignite and take the Dragon spacecraft on to the space station. The first stage will fall back to Earth, with SpaceX trying to land the rocket stage on a floating platform 90 metres long and 50 metres wide. That sounds large, but from space it is a speck in the ocean. And it won’t be completely stationary either. Here is the floating landing deck heading out to its position about 320km off the East coast of Florida.
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SpaceX has brought the Falcon 9 first stage down softly over the ocean before, but never onto a floating platform. Previously, the rocket bodies have come down and hovered over the water then allowed to topple over. At 14 storeys high, these first stages are not easy to control. Here’s footage of the Falcon 9 first stage coming down under rocket power last year.
The launch, scheduled for 11.20 GMT Tuesday, will be the fifth resupply mission SpaceX has flown to the International Space Station.
The cargo run is their primary mission, but industry eyes will be on the company’s bold and unprecedented attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket on a platform bobbing about in the Atlantic Ocean.
The landing attempt is part of a long-term goal by SpaceX to reuse its rockets, a move that could dramatically reduce the cost of space missions.
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