WASHINGTON, Jan. 06, 2014.- The company SpaceX postponed the launch of the Dragon capsule to its fifth supply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which was to be accompanied by a test Falcon 9 rocket landing on a platform in the ocean Atlantic.
The launch, which had already been postponed twice in December, was scheduled for 06.20 am (1120 GMT) on Tuesday from the center of the NASA Cape Canaveral (Florida).
With the countdown underway, the release was canceled when only a minute left for the scheduled time and immediately SpaceX did not specify the reasons.
The next attempt will take place this Friday starting at 05.09 hours (10.09 GMT), said SpaceX, one of the two private companies contracted by the US space agency to carry materials to the ISS.
The main objective of this mission was to launch the unmanned Dragon capsule more than 2.2 tons of food, supplies and scientific experiments to supply the ISS.
This is the fifth such mission after the success of the previous four, but this time, when and Dragon in orbit and routed to the ISS, SpaceX wanted the Falcon 9 first stage in a controlled landing on a floating platform over the Atlantic, about 320 kilometers east of Jacksonville (Florida).
That landing attempt is unprecedented, according to the company, which estimated in December their chances of success by 50 percent, “the best”.
The test is intended to be the followed by others with whom the billionaire founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, seeks to develop independent and reusable rockets that allow lower the cost of spaceflight.
SpaceX already achieved last year in two attempts April and July, two successful water landings of Falcon 9.
The company, based in California, has contracted 1,600 million with the NASA release 12 supply missions to the ISS with its rocket Falcon 9 and its Dragon capsule.
BLR
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