SpaceX and NASA postpone joint mission to International Space Station

(CNN) — Minutes before a new crew was scheduled to board the International Space Station, the launch team decided to abort it.

With approximately two minutes left on the countdown clock, the launch was canceled due to a diagnosed problem with the TEA-TEB ignition fluid, which is used to ignite the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket engines during liftoff.

The mission is expected to send two NASA astronauts, one Russian astronaut and one United Arab Emirates astronaut.

Release Update: Today #Group 6 The launch was scrapped due to a problem with the ground systems. Stay tuned for details on the new release date and time. https://t.co/149FPqMrnu pic.twitter.com/1PSYsjCGpL

—NASA (@NASA) February 27, 2023

New release date

NASA and SpaceX announced Thursday morning, March 2, that they will attempt to launch a joint Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station.

The launch attempt was canceled early on Monday due to a problem with the liquid used to ignite the rocket engines.

“Working teams have decided to withdraw to investigate an issue preventing data from confirming the full charge of the ignition source for the Falcon 9 Merlin first-stage engines, triethylaluminum triethylboron (or TEA-TEB),” NASA said on its blog. .

NASA and SpaceX will not attempt to launch during this Tuesday morning window of opportunity due to an unfavorable weather forecast.

If the problem with the ignition system is resolved, the next launch attempt will be on Thursday 2 March at 00:34.