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SpaceX aborts Falcon 9 rocket launch at the last minute

The newest iteration of SpaceX’s flagship rocket hit a stumbling block during its first launch and has been delayed in order to work out unknown problems before another attempt.
SpaceX is forced to abort its Falcon 9 Block 5 launch with one minute to go.
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For reasons that remain unclear, SpaceX was forced to abort the first launch of its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket with one minute to go in the countdown yesterday.

The rocket’s mission was to carry the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 communications satellite to orbit for the government of Bangladesh.

The launch was scrubbed by an automatic abort procedure with 58 seconds left to go. While the reasons for the automatic abort are still not being disclosed, they were clearly severe enough to call for an extensive delay in the Falcon 9’s launch.

So far, SpaceX has remained tight-lipped, having tweeted just once since yesterday and indicating that another launch attempt is scheduled for this afternoon:

Standing down today due to a standard ground system auto abort at T-1 min. Rocket and payload are in good health—teams are working towards tomorrow’s backup launch opportunity at 4:14 p.m. EDT, or 20:14 UTC.

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 10, 2018

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