Late in the countdown on a picture-perfect Florida fall afternoon, SpaceX was forced to call a hold and a scrub due to an issue with Falcon 9’s helium system. On Falcon 9, helium is used to pressurize fuel tanks, steady propellant flows; and for cooling systems. If the helium system on the rocket is off-kilter, Falcon 9 will not go to space that day, and today it didn’t.
Both the rocket and the payload are in good condition, and SpaceX engineers and technicians will rectify the helium issue before the next launch attempt.
Due to SpaceX officially announced the scrub a few minutes later.
At 6:30 PM EST, SpaceX has not identified a new day and time for the next attempt for the Starlink launch. It will be Tuesday, November 5th, before they can try again due to the Falcon 9 CRS-31 Resupply Mission to the International Space Station being scheduled to launch tomorrow evening from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. Naturally, that mission is a priority over the Starlink mission.
At 5:45 PM EST, the 45th Weather Squadron from Space Launch Delta 45 of the US Space Force released their official weather forecast for Starlink 6-77 for a Tuesday launch attempt at only 40% GO, and they also note two days of poor weather conditions in the landing area for the returning Falcon 9 Booster.
Weather in the booster recovery issue would be questionable tomorrow, according to the 45th Weather Squadron.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Author: Charles Boyer
NASA kid from Cocoa Beach, FL, born of Project Apollo parents and family. I’m a writer and photographer sharing the story of spaceflight from the Eastern Range here in Florida.
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