SpaceX announced that the launch of the covert X-37B robot spaceplane, scheduled for Monday night, has been postponed for at least twenty-four hours. This will be the spaceplane’s eighth voyage to orbit and its maiden flight atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
The flight was terminated around twenty-five minutes before the beginning of a planned launch window scheduled to open at eight fourteen o’clock Eastern Standard Time (EST) (0114 GMT Tuesday). The Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, run by NASA, was ready to launch the rocket.
The countdown was paused “due to a ground-side issue,” according to a message posted on the social media site X by Elon Musk’s rocket enterprise, which is located in California. The message also stated that the “vehicle and payload remain healthy.” SpaceX did not provide any further details.
When the corporation would attempt to make another attempt, it was not immediately stated. According to SpaceX, the next launch opportunity for the mission is scheduled for Tuesday evening.
The first plan to launch the spacecraft into orbit late on Sunday was scrapped because of the unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.
It was supposed to be the seventh mission performed by the X-37B, and it was supposed to be its maiden launch atop a Falcon Heavy, which is made up of three reusable rocket cores fitted together and has the capability of elevating the aircraft to a far higher orbit than it has ever been before. However, the delays occurred just before the launch.
The X-37B is a spacecraft designed to deliver various payloads and undertake technological tests during long-duration orbital missions. It is roughly the size of a small bus and resembles a miniature space shuttle vehicle.
There have been six prior trips that the X-37B has performed since the year 2010, with the most recent voyage lasting well over two years before the spacecraft will return to Earth in November 2022.
The United States Department of Defense does not reveal many specifics about its operation, which is carried out as a component of the National Security Space Launch program of the United States military.
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