May 22, 2012: The Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifts off from space launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. This launch marks the first time, a private company sends its own rocket to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.AP Photo\/John Raoux <\/p>\n
A space station cargo ship will remain Earthbound for a while longer. <\/p>\n
With just over an hour remaining, the Space X company called off Monday's planned launch because of a rocket leak. A new launch date was not set; the next opportunity would be Friday. <\/p>\n
Officials said a helium leak in the first-stage of the unmanned Falcon rocket forced the postponement. The launch already had been delayed a full month for various reasons. <\/p>\n
Over the weekend, NASA almost postponed the launch because of a computer outage at the International Space Station. But it decided Sunday that everything would be safe for the arrival of the Dragon capsule and its 2 1\/2 tons of supplies. <\/p>\n
The computer, a critical backup, failed outside the space station Friday as flight controllers were trying to activate it for a routine software load. <\/p>\n
It's the first breakdown ever of one of these so-called space station MDMs, or multiplexer-demultiplexers, used to route computer commands for a wide variety of systems. Forty-five MDMs are scattered around the orbiting lab. The failed one is located outside and therefore will require spacewalking repairs. <\/p>\n
The Dragon capsule holds a gasket-like material for next week's computer replacement. This new material was rushed to the launch site over the weekend and loaded into the Dragon. <\/p>\n
NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Steven Swanson will perform the spacewalk next Tuesday -- regardless of whether the Dragon flies by then. It will take several days to get the replacement computer ready for installing, thus the one-week wait before the job, NASA's Kenny Todd, a station operations manager, said Monday. <\/p>\n
SpaceX -- Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of California -- is one of two American companies hired by NASA to fill the cargo gap left when the space shuttles retired in 2011. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia is the other. <\/p>\n
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SpaceX delays delivery launch to International Space Station<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 22, 2012: The Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifts off from space launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. This launch marks the first time, a private company sends its own rocket to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.AP Photo\/John Raoux A space station cargo ship will remain Earthbound for a while longer. Continue reading