cleaning! SpaceX crews stopped an early morning attempt Wednesday to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Why? In a tweet on Tuesday at 11:31 PM EDT, SpaceX officials announced that they were grounded “due to non-nominal methane temperatures prior to entry into the methane payload.”
The new target takeoff time is 1:05 a.m. Thursday. Odysseus, the private company's lunar lander, will be launched via NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services Initiative and the Artemis campaign.
After separation, the Falcon 9 rocket's first-stage booster will aim to land at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, creating sonic booms on the Space Coast.
The Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron pegs the weather odds for “kick-off” at 90% for the new target time on Thursday. Thick cloud layers are the main concern, along with a low to moderate risk of upper-level wind shear.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neil He is Florida Today's space correspondent (for more of his stories, click here.) Call Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @Rick Neal1
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