CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An ambitious mission aimed at sending a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station, and also landing the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on a floating ocean platform, has been delayed until Saturday at the earliest. The first launch attempt was aborted with less than a minute and a half left in the countdown on Tuesday, at which time Friday was targeted for the next attempt. Now the launch time has been reset for about 4:47 a.m. ET Saturday.
NASA announced the additional day's delay on Wednesday. There had been some talk of replacing a balky actuator on the Falcon's second stage — and that may be the reason behind the further postponement. When asked about the reason for rescheduling, NASA's Kennedy Space Center deferred comment to SpaceX, and SpaceX did not have immediate comment.
This Dragon mission is the fifth out of 12 covered by SpaceX's $1.6 billion contract with NASA, and is destined to bring more than 5,000 pounds (2,300 kilograms) of supplies, equipment and experiments to the station.
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