Digital Sprocket

The black and white Falcon 1 rocket stood out against the blue tropical sky. Palm trees swayed in the breeze as wisps of white vapor escaped from a port high on the booster. After an hour-long delay to fix a communications link between the Omelek Island launch facility and headquarters in El Segundo, California, everything looked ready for launch.

Just minutes before the firing sequence, telemetry links to the spacecraft shift from land lines to radio communications. For an as yet unknown reason, the RF telemetry system failed, and at T-1:20, controllers called an abort. Initially, Engineers and controllers hoped they could try for another launch later in the same four-hour window, but ten minutes later they were forced to scrub launch operations for the day.

SpaceX announced that they will make another attempt Wednesday at 7 pm EDT.