There's flame in the trenches, but not the one Space Exploration Technologies was hoping for, as it counted down Tuesday afternoon to the first test-firing of its new Falcon 9 rocket. Two seconds before the rocket's nine motors were to ignite a technical problem aborted the test. The flames seen at the base of the rocket were liquid oxygen and kerosene, which were purged from the fuel tank during the abort.
"Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day to get a good look at the rocket before trying again. Everything looks great at first glance," SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin wrote in an email.
SpaceX hopes to retry the engine firing later this week. The Falcon 9 rocket, which is located at the company's new launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, remains targeted for launch this spring.
NASA is counting on SpaceX, as well as Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II rocket, to transport cargo to the International Space Station. SpaceX also hopes to take over crew transport services from the Russians, which now ferry astronauts to orbit at a cost of $51 million a seat.
Tags: NASA, Private Spaceflight, Space Station
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