SpaceX aborted a planned launch of a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday after an abort command occurred at the point where the engines were to ignite.
The Falcon 9 was to carry 60 Starlink satellites into space. The launch would have been the sixth this year for Elon Musk’s rocket company, and the fifth return of the reusable booster into flight.
“Five, four, three, two, one, zero, ignition … liftoff!” the SpaceX countdown commentator said before quickly adding: “Disregard.”
The rocket appeared to be fine on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after the abort. SpaceX quickly ended its webcast of the event, and the company didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.
Space-industry observers including astronauts quickly flooded Twitter with reminders that an aborted launch is better than a catastrophic failure, and there’s something to learn from each attempt. Several commentators added that, in the age of coronavirus, the Falcon 9 had simply decided to work from home. — Reported by Justin Bachman, (c) 2020 Bloomberg LP