An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch was aborted before liftoff this week due to technical issues, according to Reuters.
It was the second attempt this week alone to launch a communications satellite for SES. Nov. 25's attempt was called off after "unusual pressure reading" in Falcon 9's liquid oxygen tank. On Nov. 28, the launch was aborted due to slower than usual thrust ramp, according to SpaceX's founder Elon Musk.
The rocket's nine first-stage engines fired off at 5:39 p.m., but shut down when computers felt the thrust was building too slowly. The countdown was then restarted to try getting it off the ground before the launch window ended at 6:44 p.m., but engineers ran out of time.
The attempt was called off with a minute left in the launch window according to USA Today.
"Better to be paranoid and wrong," Musk said about the launch.
Musk said the rocket will return to its hangar and over the next few days the engines will be inspected at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40, according to USA Today.
A new launch date has yet to be announced.
On top of the rocket is a 7,000-pound satellite owned by SES, which operates 54-satellite telecom fleet.
The satellite, known as SES-8, is worth $100 million, and will be in position to provide television cable, broadband, and other services throughout Vietnam, China, India, and other locations in Asia.
"It's an extremely important satellite for us," Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer of SES, told reporters at a prelaunch gathering on Sunday in Cocoa Beach, Fla. "We know that as we go forward into these very significant growth markets that it's absolutely critical that we have a cost-effective and efficient way to get to orbit. That's really what SpaceX has brought us."
SpaceX had tried to fire up the Falcon 9's upper-stage engine twice during a Sept. test flight demonstration, but it didn't work.
The company needs three successful launches of its Falcon rocket before it will qualify to compete to carry the U.S. military's most expensive satellites into space, according to NBC News.
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