Tag : Falcon9

Cape Canaveral, Florida: The planned launch of a robotic moon lander built by Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines was called off less than two hours before Wednesday's liftoff time and postponed for at least a day, launch contractor SpaceX said on Tuesday night. SpaceX, the private rocket and satellite company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, said on the social media platform X that the launch team was "standing down from tonight's attempt" because of irregular methane temperatures before loading. https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1757623502289686797? [https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1757623502289686797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1757623502289686797%7Ctwgr%5E9eb4b0057759a4c7275b536699ff9779897911ac%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deccanherald.com%2Fscience%2Fspace%2Flaunch-of-private-us-moon-lander-postponed-by-technical-glitch-in-florida-2893869] The precise function of the methane and its implications for the proper function of the Falcon 9 rocket were not immediately explained. The rocket's Merlin engines run on kerosene and liquid oxygen. The decision to scrub the Intuitive Machines flight, which had been set for liftoff at 12:57 am EST on Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, came about 75 minutes before launch time. SpaceX said it would aim for the next launch opportunity for the uncrewed mission, which is slated for 1:05 am EST on Thursday. Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander, dubbed Odysseus, remains poised atop the Falcon 9 rocket for a mission aimed at conducting the first US lunar touchdown since the last Apollo moon mission a half century ago, and the first by a privately owned vehicle. The feat also would mark the first journey to the ...