Record-Breaking SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch Aborts at Last Minute

SpaceX had just 65 seconds to go to lift off on what would have been a historic seventh flight for its Falcon Heavy rocket when the company called it all off late on Wednesday night.

The rocket had been slated to launch from Pad 39A at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:04 p.m. Eastern, but it was scrubbed literally at the last minute. The launch will be re-attempted on Thursday, July 27 at approximately the same time, SpaceX said. It is not clear why Wednesday's launch was called off.

The Falcon Heavy is carrying the JUPITER 3 satellite to space. A communications satellite, the machine is a whopping 10.1 tons and about the size of a bus, according to its operator, Hughes Network Systems, which is part of EchoStar. The company offers HughesNet high-speed broadband internet.

"Since inventing satellite internet and bringing broadband connectivity to remote and rural customers, Hughes has continued to advance our service offerings with more capacity, higher speeds and a better online experience," said Hamid Akhavan, EchoStar's CEO, in a press statement.

"JUPITER 3 represents the next leap in our offerings, bringing HughesNet customers what they have been asking for: more data and higher speeds."

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch, if successful, will break a record for the spaceflight history books — it has flown six times so far since being completed in 2018. The launch will livestream on SpaceX's YouTube channel.

SpaceX is also planning a separate launch for a fresh batch of 22 Starlink satellites, the company's own satellite constellation designed to produce high-speed, low-latency internet to anyone with a view of the sky. The launch is currently scheduled for 10:20 p.m. Eastern on Thursday July 27 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida aboard the company's Falcon 9 rocket.

The Falcon 9 launch will be the fifteenth flight for the first stage booster, SpaceX said, and it plans to collect it on one of the company's drone ships.