{"id":16469,"date":"2015-03-17T20:18:28","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T12:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-puts-off-next-falcon-9-launch\/"},"modified":"2015-03-17T20:18:28","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T12:18:28","slug":"spacex-puts-off-next-falcon-9-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-puts-off-next-falcon-9-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX puts off next Falcon 9 launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"File
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX\u2019s next launch with a European-built communications satellite has been delayed to no earlier than March 28 to study a problem with a helium pressurization system on the Falcon 9 rocket, officials said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The liftoff was set for Saturday in a one-hour launch window opening at 4:04 p.m. EDT (2004 GMT), and the mission\u2019s communications payload is fueled and ready for flight.<\/p>\n

Officials decided to push back the launch at least one week because of an issue with the Falcon 9 rocket, according to officials with Thales Alenia Space, which manufactured the mission\u2019s payload in Cannes, France.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a luncheon in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell blamed the delay on the Falcon 9\u2019s high-pressure helium system used to pressurize the rocket\u2019s tanks.<\/p>\n

The rocket was scheduled for a countdown dress rehearsal Tuesday that would culminate in a three-second firing of the first stage\u2019s nine Merlin engines.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 launch will now occur after a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket is due to blast off from Cape Canaveral on March 25 with a fresh U.S. Air Force GPS navigation satellite.<\/p>\n

The mission will deliver the TurkmenAlem52E\/MonacoSat communications satellite to orbit. Built by Thales, the spacecraft is owned by the government of Turkmenistan and is set to become the country\u2019s first satellite.<\/p>\n

The launch will mark the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s fourth flight of the year after launches Jan. 10, Feb. 11 and March 1 with supplies for the International Space Station, a NOAA space weather observatory, and two communications platforms for Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite.<\/p>\n

Before the delay to the launch this month, SpaceX planned to conduct an abort test of the company\u2019s next-generation Crew Dragon space taxi some time in early April. Another Falcon 9 rocket was set for liftoff no sooner than April 10 with a Dragon supply ship for the space station.<\/p>\n

It was not clear Tuesday if other upcoming launches would need to be rescheduled in a ripple effect from the delay in the TurkmenAlem52E\/MonacoSat flight from March 21 to March 28.<\/p>\n

When the mission blasts off, the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket will deploy the Thales-built spacecraft into an arcing transfer orbit with a high point thousands of miles above Earth. The distant orbit, coupled with the satellite\u2019s heavy weight, will keep the launcher from performing an experimental flyback maneuver to test out a concept SpaceX hopes will eventually lead to the booster\u2019s reusability.<\/p>\n

The next chance to try the reusability experiment will come in April with the launch of SpaceX\u2019s next cargo delivery flight to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

With a launch weight of about 4,500 kilograms \u2014 9,920 pounds \u2014 the satellite is based on the Spacebus 4000 C2 spacecraft bus built by Thales Alenia Space. It is designed for a 15-year service life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce operational in orbit, TurkmenAlem52E\/MonacoSat will allow Turkmenistan to operate its first national satellite telecommunications system, ensuring enhanced, secure telecommunications for the country,\u201d Thales wrote in a mission summary posted on the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX\u2019s next launch with a European-built communications satellite has been delayed to no earlier than March 28 to study a problem with a helium pressurization system on the Falcon 9 rocket, officials said Tuesday. The liftoff was set for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,4073,1542,316,1611,874,4074,4079],"class_list":["post-16469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-falcon-9-flight-17","tag-space-launch-complex-40","tag-spacex","tag-telecom","tag-thales-alenia-space","tag-turkmenalem52e-monacosat","tag-turkmenistan"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}