Falcon 9 Turns into Turkey on Pad, Thanksgiving Launch Possible

UPDATE: SpaceX has issued the following statement:

“We observed unexpected readings with the first stage liquid oxygen system so we decided to investigate.  The launch vehicle and satellite are in great shape and we are looking forward to the next launch opportunity on Thursday at 5:38 p.m. Eastern time.”

SpaceX’s scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral today after the vehicle suffered a couple of technical problems on the launch pad.

The count was recycled, and the clock eventually stopped with less than 4 minutes remaining as the end of the launch window loomed. Controllers decided to call it a day to allow engineers to fix the problems.

SpaceX is prohibited from launching on Tuesday and Wednesday due to heavy holiday air travel. The next possible launch attempt would be Thursday at 5:38 p.m. EST (22:38 UTC).

This is first use of a Falcon 9 to place a communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit. The payload is the SES-8 spacecraft.