SpaceX Rocket Launch To Space Station With Astronauts Scrubbed Last-Minute

NASA and SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt of the SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station early Monday morning due to a ground systems problem. 

A last-minute technical issue occurred just two minutes before the 230-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket, with a Crew Dragon capsule, was expected to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 0145 ET. The clock was stopped by engineers “to investigate an issue preventing data from confirming a full load of the ignition source for the Falcon 9 first stage Merlin engines, triethylaluminum triethylboron (or TEA-TEB),” according to the space agency. 

Strapped into the Dragon capsule was a crew of two NASA astronauts, one Russian cosmonaut and one astronaut from the United Arab Emirates. 

SCRUB: Two minutes from launch, an issue with the Falcon 9 rocket’s engine ignition system postpones the Crew-6 mission to the @Space_Station.

More on the cause and when @NASA and @SpaceX could try again as soon as details become available.@news6wkmg: https://t.co/a06XbQrach pic.twitter.com/L4wLUN5Lrw

— James Sparvero (@JamesSparvero) February 27, 2023

“I’m proud of the NASA and SpaceX teams’ focus and dedication to keeping Crew-6 safe,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. He added: “Human spaceflight is an inherently risky endeavor and, as always, we will fly when we are ready.”

The next launch attempt is at 1234 ET Thursday, pending the resolution of the technical issue that prevented this morning’s launch.