SpaceX Resolves Falcon 9 Engine Issue, Targets November 14 For Crew-1 Launch Written 29 October 2020
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket raised into vertical position at Launch Complex 39A in preparation for the Demo-1 mission at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. | Credit: Joel Kowsky; NASA
CBS News reports that NASA plans to launch a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew-1 mission to the ISS on November 14. The mission was pushed back earlier this month because a different Falcon 9 rocket suffered from an engine problem that led to a last-second abort of the mission to send a US Space Force Global Positioning System navigation satellite into orbit. On Wednesday, SpaceX Vice President for Build and Flight Reliability Hans Koenigsmann “said the rocket’s flight computer commanded the abort after detecting unusual pressure readings in the turbopump machinery used by two of the rocket’s nine first stage engines.” The “suspect engines were removed and shipped to SpaceX’s Texas flight test facility where engineers were able to replicate the pressure readings.”
Full Story (CBS News)