SpaceX aborts launch of four-man crew to space station just before liftoff
In a frustrating disappointment, the launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying a four-man crew bound for the International Space Station was called off with less than three minutes to go early Monday because of trouble with a system used to ignite the Falcon 9's first stage engines.
Crew-6 commander Stephen Bowen, Warren "Woody" Hoburg, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and Emerati astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, the first Arab assigned to a long-duration station flight, took the scrub in stride and patiently waited inside the spacecraft while the rocket's propellants were drained away.
SpaceX's closeout team then returned to the pad, opened the capsule's side hatch and helped the crew climb out of the vehicle for the drive back to NASA crew quarters. It was the first non weather-related launch scrub for a Crew Dragon spacecraft since the ferry ships began carrying astronauts to the space station in 2020.
The scrub was triggered by a problem with the engine igniter fluid, a chemical known as triethylaluminum triethylboron, or "TEA-TEB," that reacts with liquid oxygen to spin up the Falcon 9's nine first stage engines.
If the problem can be resolved in time, NASA and SpaceX will make another attempt to launch the Crew-6 mission at 12:34 a.m. EST Thursday. Mission managers passed up a Tuesday launch try because of expected bad weather and Wednesday was ruled out because of space station rendezvous requirements.
Along with disappointing the crew, the scrub also spoiled a chance for SpaceX to launch three Falcon 9s in just 13 hours with afternoon launches planned in Florida and California to put two batches of Starlink internet satellites into orbit. Those flights appeared to remain on schedule, but bad weather threatened the California launch.
Whenever Crew-6 takes off, Bowen and company will be welcomed aboard the station by Crew-5 commander Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina, the first Russian to launch aboard a Crew Dragon. They arrived at the station last October and plan to return to Earth around March 6 to close out a 151-day mission.
Also welcoming the Crew-6 fliers will be Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. They launched to the lab last September and originally planned to fly home in March.
But their Soyuz MS-22 ferry ship was crippled December 14 when a presumed micrometeoroid ruptured a coolant line. After an analysis, Russian engineers concluded the spacecraft could not safely be used again because of the possibility sensitive systems could overheat.
Instead, a replacement Soyuz -- MS-23 -- was launched last Thursday, carrying equipment and supplies instead of a crew. The spacecraft successfully docked with the station Saturday night, providing Prokopyev and his crewmates with a safe ride home.
But to get the crew rotation schedule back on track, the trio will have to spend an additional six months in space, coming home this fall after a full year in orbit. They'll share the station with Crew 6 for most of that time.
Alneyadi, a father of six, is the second Emerati to fly in space but the first named to a full-duration six-month stay aboard the station. During his expedition, two Saudi fliers will visit the lab complex for about a week as part of a commercial mission managed by Houston-based Axiom Space.
"I think it's going to be really interesting," Alneyadi said after arriving at the Kennedy Space Center last week. "It's for the sake of science, for the sake of spreading the knowledge about how important it is to fly (in space) and to push the boundaries of exploration, not only in the leading countries.
"Our region is also thirsty to learn more. And I think we will be ambassadors in these missions. Hopefully, we can come back with knowledge and share whatever we learn with everybody."