SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch has been delayed for a second time in two days.
Originally, the rocket maker planned to launch the Falcon 9 and attempt to land it on a drone-piloted barge on Wednesday.
With less than two minutes to liftoff, SpaceX scrubbed Thursday night’s launch citing “technical difficulties.”
During the live broadcast, the Falcon 9 Product Director John Insprucker said that preliminary information indicated that the launch was scrubbed to ensure that “liquid oxygen temperatures were as cold as possible to maximize performance of the vehicle.”
In December, SpaceX successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral, but its previous three attempts at more complicated ocean-borne landings ended in near-misses last month, in April and last January.
The ability to land used rockets is a crucial step in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s plan to get humans to Mars, as this would dramatically reduce the costs of spaceflight.
There’s no word yet on when SpaceX will reschedule the launch.
