It’s now unclear exactly when Iowa native astronaut Peggy Whitson will blast off on her record-setting fifth space mission. This morning’s scheduled launch was called off.
SpaceX announced on Tuesday night that there’s liquid oxygen propellant leak in the rocket that was supposed to be carrying mission commander Whitson and three Axiom Space crewmates to the International Space Station.
Repairs are underway on the Falcon 9 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but no new launch date for the two-week mission is being released.
It’s the third lift-off delay this week for the Ax-4 mission. The first two were due to stormy weather.
Whitson, who grew up on a farm near Beaconsfield, has spent 675 days in orbit, holding the record for the longest cumulative time in space by an American astronaut.