Hawthorne-based SpaceX postponed Tuesday’s planned launch of a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
The company will have to wait at least one more day before trying to reach another historical milestone by launching the mission using a rocket and spacecraft that have both been used in previous flights.
“Now targeting Dec. 13 for launch of CRS-13 from SLC-40 to allow for additional time for pre-launch ground system checks,” SpaceX tweeted.
The CRS-13 mission “will refly both an orbital rocket and spacecraft for the first time,” company founder Elon Musk wrote on his social media accounts in advance of the mission.
The mission is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying 4,800 pounds of crew supplies and research materials. It will be the 13th space-station resupply mission the company has flown under a contract with NASA that calls for SpaceX to make as many as 20 trips to the stellar outpost.
The Dragon spacecraft being used in the mission has already been to the International Space Station once before. The spacecraft was used in a resupply mission flown in April 2015. The Falcon 9 rocket that will boost the spacecraft into orbit was used in a resupply mission in June of this year.
SpaceX has been working to perfect the process of reusing the first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets as a major cost-savings tool. After the launch, the company plans to again recover the rocket by landing it back at Cape Canaveral for use in future missions.
The company has re-used rockets before, but this will mark the first time SpaceX has used both a recycled rocket and spacecraft at the same time.
—City News Service