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NASA, SpaceX targeting Wednesday launch of planet hunter after scrub

SpaceX said it stood down to perform more analysis of the rocket's guidance, navigation and control system.
Credit: NASA
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission is targeting a 6:32 p.m. Monday launch from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite is the next step in NASA's search for planets outside our solar system.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- SpaceX hopes to be ready Wednesday evening to launch a planet-hunting NASA science mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

A first attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket and NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, was scrubbed several hours before Monday's planned 6:32 p.m. liftoff.

SpaceX said it stood down to perform more analysis of the rocket's guidance, navigation and control system.

A Wednesday liftoff from Launch Complex 40 would be at 6:51 p.m.

The weather forecast is excellent, with less than a 10 percent chance of violating launch rules.

More: SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy rocket, sticks 2 landings

On Monday, it became apparent that something was amiss when the countdown clock abruptly stopped with just over three hours remaining.

Because the launch is targeting a specific moment within a 30-second window, there was no margin for error if a technical or weather issue cropped up.

NASA's two-year, $337 million TESS mission expects to find thousands of planets orbiting nearby, bright stars.

Cameras will detect tiny dips in light as the planets cross their host stars. Follow-up observations will determine if any of the planets are Earth-like and could potentially support life.

The TESS mission has opportunities to launch through April 26 (except April 22) before NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, would shift its focus to a planned May 5 launch of the InSight Mars lander from California on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Monday's countdown was the second in three days at the Cape, following ULA's Atlas V launch Saturday evening of a national security mission for Air Force Space Command.

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