SpaceX's Falcon 9, which had been rescheduled for luunch on Thanksgiving Day, has failed to take off again.
This is the second time in a week that the planned launch of the Falcon 9 rocket had to be scrubbed due to a technical glitch.
"Launch scrubbed for today. Team bringing rocket down to take a closer look at the engines. Likely a few days before next attempt," noted SpaceX's Facebook post.
The Falcon 9 was initially scheduled to take off on November 25 from Cape Canaveral, but the rocket's launch was canceled minutes before the takeoff.
Post the canceling of the November 25 launch, a spokeswoman for SpaceX said: "We observed unexpected readings with the first stage liquid oxygen system, so we decided to investigate. The launch vehicle and satellite are in great shape, and we are looking forward to the next launch opportunity."
SpaceX, the private spaceflight company, will now be hoping that the rocket will be ready for a third launch attempt soon, despite coming close to a Thanksgiving Day blastoff from Cape Canaveral.
On Thursday, Novermber 28, the rocket's nine first-stage engines were fired up at 5.39 p.m. EST but were closed down when computers noted that their thrust was building up slowly.
The countdown was restarted in a bid to get the rocket off the ground prior to the close of the launch window at 6.44 p.m. However, engineers ran out of time and were unable to analyze the data from the engine cutoff. They called off the launch attempt with a minute remaining.
"We called manual abort. Better to be paranoid and wrong. Bringing rocket down to borescope engines ...," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted.
We called manual abort. Better to be paranoid and wrong. Bringing rocket down to borescope engines ...
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2013
The exact nature of the technical glitch is not known yet and the engine is slated for an inspection shortly. A new launch date is expected to be set in the next few days.
