Originally scheduled to take off to space on October 31, the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket—which seeks to send four SpaceX astronauts to the International Space Station—has been moved to November 14.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX—currently working on the mission together—explained that the decision to re-schedule the event had to do with an issue concerning a previous launch's rocket engine.
"We call it a hard start," said Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, during an official press conference. "It's not necessarily bad. It rattles the engine and could cause a little damage. But in general, you do not want that."
According to the expert, the issue had to do with a "masking agent" that is usually used to protect the engines from erosion. After further research, the SpaceX team noticed that two of the engines that were scheduled to launch at the end of October also boasted the same problem. The company will simply swap out the engines and, hopefully, be ready for a November launch.
In the meantime, the concerned astronauts are in "soft quarantine" while staying at home with their families. On November 6, they will travel to the Kennedy Space Station in Florida and will start following stricter quarantine mandates.
As of now, the upcoming mission is scheduled to take off at 7:49pm EST and you'll be able to catch the entire thing online right here.
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