CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA and SpaceX scrubbed the Crew-6 launch due to an issue with the Falcon 9 rocket’s engine ignition system.
SpaceX said the issue was with a TEA-TAB ground system issue and that the crew and vehicles are healthy.
“Propellant offload has begun ahead of the crew disembarking Dragon,” SpaceX said in a Tweet. The detanking process takes about 50 minutes, NASA said in its broadcast.
A backup launch opportunity was available early Tuesday, but NASA says because of weather concerns it won’t use that window. The next launch attempt is currently set for 12:34am on Thursday provided crews can fix the ignition system issue.
The Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft on top, was set to liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 1:45 a.m. Monday.
When launched, the flight will be the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station, and the seventh crewed Dragon flight as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
The NASA SpaceX Crew-6 mission will carry NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, as well as United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev to the International Space Station where they will spend up to six months conducting over 200 science experiments.
Launch Update: @NASA’s @SpaceX Crew-6 mission from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida to the International Space Station has been scrubbed. More information is coming soon. pic.twitter.com/I7YadrGzgE
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) February 27, 2023
Weather officials with the 45th Weather Squadron gave a 95% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch, according to NASA.
Standing down from tonight's launch of Crew-6 due to a TEA-TEB ground system issue. Both Crew-6 and the vehicles are healthy and propellant offload has begun ahead of the crew disembarking Dragon
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 27, 2023
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The launch was originally scheduled for early Sunday morning, but NASA and SpaceX pushed it back a day to do some additional checks and balances.
Longtime residents of Brevard County said the launches are not only great for business, but that they’re also just pretty cool to see.
Bobby Russo grew up in Cocoa and said watching our Space Coast launches never gets old.
“I’ve been seeing these launches since I was 5 years old as a kid. I’ve seen the space shuttle, the Apollo program...” Russo said. “My father retired from the space industry and just seeing the jobs that it brings and the income to this area, it’s just good for the country.”
So far this year, there have been nine SpaceX launches from Florida. In 2022, Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that he was aiming for up to 100 launches this year, including that of SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission with its liftoff from Kennedy Space Center.
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