UPDATE, Feb. 28: SpaceX aborted the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket for a third time on Sunday night. The space technologies company went ahead with the countdown, scrubbing the launch seconds before liftoff. A new launch date has not been released.
Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, had previously a delayed a launch of the Falcon 9 rocket that was scheduled for Thursday night.
SpaceX delayed the launch over concerns with the rocket's propellant, according to a webcast from the company. It decided to postpone the launch less than two minutes before the rocket was scheduled for takeoff.
John Insprucker, Falcon 9's product director, said at the end of the live webcast that they would try another attempt, “hopefully within another couple of days."
The main goal of the launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, was to deliver a commercial communications satellite called SES-9 into orbit for the company SES. A secondary objective of the event was to land the 14-story rocket booster upright on a floating, football field-sized drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You.
However, SpaceX has said "a successful landing is not expected," and predicted its fourth at-sea landing attempt would end much like the previous three: in flames.
A SpaceX landing off the coast of California ended in flames last month after a successful launch to deploy an international ocean-monitoring satellite.
In December, however, SpaceX made history when a Falcon 9 landed successfully on the ground about 6 miles from where it took off. Musk called it a "revolutionary" moment and a "critical step along the way to being able to establish a city on Mars."
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