The Falcon 9 v1.1 carrying six ORBCOMM OG2 satellites stands on the launch pad Friday prior to the launch scrub. SpaceX may try again Saturday. (credit: SpaceX)
While the forecasted bad weather held off, SpaceX still scrubbed Friday night’s scheduled launch of six ORBCOMM OG2 satellites. During the countdown, controllers noted a drop in pressure in the propulsion system of the second stage. Initially, SpaceX moved the launch to the end of the 53-minute launch window, at 7:01 pm EDT (2301 GMT), but with less than ten minutes left in the countdown, scrubbed the launch, unable to resolve the problem.
SpaceX has not disclosed additional details about the problem, but said it could attempt another launch on Saturday. SpaceX has not confirmed those plans as of mid-morning Saturday, but the customer, ORBCOMM, appeared to indicate that they would try again today. “We are a go for launching OG2 Mission 1 today at 5:46 pm ET [2146 GMT],” the company said on its website. If SpaceX follows the practice from yesterday, the launch webcast should start about a half-hour earlier.
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