SpaceX postpones plans to launch secret US military spacecraft X-37B By Reuters

© Reuters. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from historic Launch Pad 39-A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA on February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Thom Baur/File Photo

Joe Skipper and Steve Gorman

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – The launch of the U.S. military’s secretive X-37B robotic spacecraft on its seventh mission to orbit and its first flight aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket was delayed by at least 24 hours on Monday night. SpaceX said.

night as the rocket was preparing for liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, about 25 minutes before the target launch window set to open at 8:14 PM ET (0114 GMT Tuesday). Flight has been cancelled. .

Elon Musk’s California-based rocket venture said in a message posted on social media platform SpaceX did not elaborate.

The company did not immediately say when it would try again. SpaceX said the mission’s next launch opportunity is Tuesday night.

The original plan to send the spacecraft into orbit late Sunday was canceled due to bad weather at the Cape.

This is the seventh mission flown by the

Roughly the size of a small bus and similar to a miniature Space Shuttle spacecraft, the X-37B is built to deploy a variety of payloads and conduct technology experiments in long-duration orbital flights.

The X-37B has flown six previous missions since 2010, with the last flight lasting more than two years before the vehicle’s return landing in November 2022.

The Pentagon releases few details about operations conducted as part of the military’s National Security Space Launch Program.