SpaceX Blames Helium Leak for Falcon 9 Launch Delay

摘要

The May 9 cancellation of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket static test firing ahead of a planned May 10 launch was caused by a helium leak in an apparently different location from the leak that delayed the April launch of a cargo supply mission. The launch, of six Orbcomm machine-to-machine messaging satellites, has been rescheduled to June 11, with a backup date of June 12 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin said in a May 20 response to inquiries. After days of maintaining a silence in which was bred multiple industry rumors, Shanklin on May 20 gave a brief summary of what stopped the test firing on the day before the scheduled launch.