Space enthusiasts eager to witness one of the most important launches in SpaceX history were disappointed tonight when Elon Musk's space company announced the cancellation of the planned launch. What happened there? Perplexity helps us understand.
Its Falcon Heavy rocket, which consists of a large central rocket and two smaller side booster missiles, was supposed to lift off carrying the US Space Force's X-37B robotic spacecraft, but what the company described as a "ground-side problem" — apparently a concern about suboptimal weather conditions — caused the launch to be cancelled half an hour before the scheduled time.
According to the company's announcement of the cancellation, which was uploaded about 30 minutes before the designated time to the social network X (formerly Twitter), the missile and payload are in good condition and ready for launch, but another problem prevents the company from carrying out the launch on schedule. However, she promised that her team is trying to resolve the issue before the next launch window – tonight at the same time, i.e. 3:14 a.m. on our watch, with a live broadcast of the event starting at 2:55 right here:
As we told yesterday, this is the first time that SpaceX has launched a plane into space – although the military plane in question has already reached space 6 times, with the help of rockets from ULA (a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing). The reason for choosing SpaceX for the current launch is apparently that this time the space force wants the plane to fly at a higher altitude with a heavier payload on its back – something that ULA's missiles are not powerful enough to do.
Recall that for the main rocket that is expected to bring the aircraft into orbit around the Earth, this will be the eighth launch, while the two boosters adjacent to it will take off for the fifth time. All three are expected to land on dedicated reusable landing pads. The record for launches of a SpaceX rocket (and in general) so far is 17.
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