Scrub! SpaceX-NASA Intuitive Machines moon lander launch postponed to Thursday morning

Scrub! SpaceX crews have stood down from an early-morning Wednesday attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

Why? In an 11:31 p.m. EST Tuesday tweet, SpaceX officials announced they were standing down "due to off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load."

The new target liftoff time is 1:05 a.m. Thursday. Odysseus, the private company's moon lander, will launch via NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative and Artemis campaign.

After stage separation, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster will target landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — triggering sonic booms on the Space Coast.

The Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron pegs the odds of "go for launch" weather at 90% for the new Thursday target time. Thick cloud layers are the primary concern, along with a low-to-moderate risk of upper-level wind shear.

For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or [email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

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This artist's rendering depicts Odysseus, Intuitive Machines' lunar lander, on the surface of the moon.
This artist's rendering depicts Odysseus, Intuitive Machines' lunar lander, on the surface of the moon.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Scrub! SpaceX-NASA Intuitive Machines mission postponed to Thursday