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March 13 (UPI) -- SpaceX scrubbed its launch of 23 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit just two minutes before lift-off Wednesday night, announcing it would target Thursday instead. "Standing down from tonight's Falcon 9 launch of Starlink," SpaceX announced at 10 p.m. EDT in a post on X.
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The satellites were loaded atop the Falcon 9 rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, when the countdown was abruptly halted. No reason for the delay was given.
"Propellant load has begun for tonight's launch of 23 Starlink satellites from Florida. All systems and weather are currently go for launch," SpaceX announced in a post just twenty minutes before the scheduled lift-off.
With two minutes to go, the countdown was put on hold.
The mission, which is now scheduled for Thursday, will see the booster stage separate from the rest of the vehicle shortly after launch and land on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
The booster that will carry the Starlink satellites into orbit previously launched 11 Starlink missions, as well as the Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT DADR-8, GPS II Space Vehicle 04, GPS II Space Vehicle 05 and Inspiration4 missions.
SpaceX launched 46 Starlink satellites into orbit via two separate launches Sunday from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and California's Vandenberg Space Force Base.
On Thursday, SpaceX plans to launch a third test of its Starship rocket, aiming to try ascent burns on its first and second stages, open and close Starship payload doors, perform a propellant transfer demonstration during the upper stage's coast phase and a re-light of a Raptor engine while in space.
"A 110-minute opens at 7:00 a.m. CT," SpaceX said in a post showing Starship. The rocket will launch from SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas launch facilities, where the rocket's first two attempts to reach space were launched from last year.
SpaceX hopes to pull off a controlled re-entry of Starship and have it splash down in the Indian Ocean.
Starship, the largest vehicle ever built to be lifted to space, is part of NASA's plan to return to the moon. Two previous tests resulted in disassembly.
