SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch has been delayed yet again — Sunday evening was the third attempt to launch the rocket in five days.
The rocket maker held Sunday evening’s launch, at first, because an unauthorized boat sailed into a restricted zone near the launchpad.
Although the boat delayed the launch, the countdown resumed again only to be aborted later when an alarm was triggered aboard the rocket itself.
In each of the three scheduled launches, SpaceX’s experimental mission was to launch the Falcon 9 rocket and attempt to land it on a done-piloted barge affectionately named the “Of Course I Still Love You.”
Prior to the three launch attempts, SpaceX stated that it didn’t expect a successful landing.
The launch was originally scheduled to take place last Wednesday evening but was scrubbed due to poor weather.
A second attempt was made on Thursday evening during a live broadcast but, with less than two minutes to liftoff, the mission was aborted. SpaceX said that the decision to scrub the second attempt was made “out of an abundance of caution.”
The ability to land used rockets is a critical step in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s plans to bring humans to Mars, as it would markedly reduce the costs of spaceflight.
SpaceX has yet to announce when a fourth attempt at the launch will be scheduled.
