CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - The highly anticipated launch of the U.S. military's covert X-37B robotic spaceplane on its seventh mission into orbit, marking its inaugural flight atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, faced a setback as SpaceX announced a postponement of at least 24 hours.
Earlier scheduled for Monday night, the launch was halted just 25 minutes before the planned liftoff at 8:14 p.m. EST (0114 GMT Tuesday) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The delay was attributed to a ground-side issue, according to a statement released by Elon Musk's SpaceX via a post on the X social media platform. However, SpaceX assured that both the vehicle and payload were in good health, although specifics about the issue were not provided.
While no immediate details were disclosed regarding a new launch schedule, SpaceX highlighted that the next available opportunity for the mission's liftoff would be Tuesday night.
Poor weather conditions at Cape Canaveral on Sunday led to the scrubbing of the original plan for the spacecraft's journey into orbit. This marks the seventh mission for the X-37B and its inaugural launch atop a Falcon Heavy, a configuration designed with three reusable rocket cores capable of propelling the craft into significantly higher orbits than previously achieved.
Resembling a miniature version of the space shuttle and roughly the size of a small bus, the X-37B serves as a platform for deploying various payloads and conducting extensive technology experiments during prolonged stays in orbit.
Since its inception in 2010, the X-37B has completed six missions, with its most recent flight lasting over two years before successfully landing back on Earth in November 2022. The operational details of the spacecraft remain shrouded in secrecy as part of the U.S. Defense Department's National Security Space Launch program, divulging minimal information about its missions.
