CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX has called off its flight to the International Space Station.
The unmanned Falcon rocket was supposed to blast off before sunrise Tuesday. But the countdown was halted with just one minute remaining. Officials said they will investigate the upper stage Z actuator, which was acting improperly.
The next launch attempt will be on Friday at 5 a.m.
The Dragon capsule aboard the rocket contains more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments ordered up by NASA. That's the primary objective for SpaceX. But the California-based company was to attempt an even more extraordinary feat once the Dragon is on its way: flying the booster rocket to a platform in the Atlantic. No one has ever pulled off such a touchdown.
SpaceX's billionaire founder Elon Musk says recovering and reusing rockets could speed up launches and drive down costs.