SpaceX Falcon 9 launch aborted in final countdown

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SpaceX called off a satellite launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida less than 10 seconds before liftoff Sunday because of a technical issue with the company's Falcon 9 rocket.

This was the second day in a row SpaceX was forced to cancel the launch of their Falcon 9 rocket just 10 seconds before the launch, a command triggered by their computers.

Screenshot of launch video /SpaceX Photo

John Insprucker, Falcon 9 principal integration engineer, said that the technical issue that postponed the launch the day before was fixed but was unable to give the reason for aborting Monday's launch as the engineers were still working on the cause.

"We'll take a look at what the data is and then figure out what our next launch opportunity is going to be," he said.

The next launch opportunity, according to Insprucker, is on Tuesday, July 4 – if SpaceX decides the Falcon 9 rocket is ready to fly.

Falcon 9 will carry the Intelsat 35e communications satellite – weighing 6.8 tons – toward a geostationary transit orbit 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) above the Earth, creating a new record in its payload.

(Source: Reuters, AP)

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