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NASA, SpaceX target March 2 for next available Crew-6 launch attempt
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket vents approximately 8 minutes past the launch time after the attempt was aborted at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, February 27, 2023. /CFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket vents approximately 8 minutes past the launch time after the attempt was aborted at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, February 27, 2023. /CFP

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket vents approximately 8 minutes past the launch time after the attempt was aborted at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, February 27, 2023. /CFP

NASA and SpaceX are now targeting Thursday, March 2, for the next available Crew-6 launch attempt after the original attempt was scrubbed early on Monday.

The launch of the Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station was originally scheduled at 1:45 a.m. on Monday Eastern Time from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But the launch was called off due to a ground systems issue.

Mission teams decided to stand down 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 NASA.

SpaceX has removed propellant from the Falcon 9 rocket, and the astronauts have exited the Dragon spacecraft for astronaut crew quarters. Both the Falcon 9 and Dragon are in a safe configuration, said NASA.

Whether NASA and SpaceX could go for the next available launch attempt on Thursday will depend on the resolution of the technical issue preventing Monday's launch.

The Crew-6 launch will carry NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren "Woody" Hoburg, as well as United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev to the space station for a science expedition mission. 

Read more:

NASA postpones launch of space station crew in final minutes

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency

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