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Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) held off for the first time on their crewed launch earlier today due to a problem on ground systems as the Crew-6 launch was scrubbed just a moments before launch. The teams has started to prepare the astronauts before the launch, but as the countdown neared to liftoff, mission controllers informed the crew on board that the teams were encountering a problem with loading the ignition fluid on the Falcon 9 rocket. Then, just a little over two minutes before liftoff, as the launch director was about to give their go ahead for the launch, the mission control center informed the crew that they would have to cancel today's launch.

TEA-TEB Issues Force NASA and SpaceX To Stand Down From Crew-6 Launch Moments Before Liftoff

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket uses nine Merlin 1D engines to power the rocket, and they use liquid oxygen and kerosene to generate thrust to lift the rocket off the pad. However, the mixutre of the propellant and the oxidizer needs an ignition source, and for the Falcon 9 this is called TEA-TEB, a short form from triethylaluminum-triethylborane. This highly combustible fluid is responsible for a green flame emitting from below the Falcon 9 rocket just as its engines ignite for launch.

NASA and SpaceX's Crew-6 mission was scheduled to lift off at 01:45 EST earlier today, and before the scrub, things had proceeded nominally. Engineers successfully loaded both the upper and lower stages of the rocket with the fuel and oxidizer, with the launch control tower and the clamps for the Dragon spaceship separating successfully. The Crew Dragon spaceship had already been loaded with the propellant for its engines a week before today, but roughly five minutes before liftoff, teams encountered a problem that had rarely presented itself before today's scrub.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite on its way to an equatorial orbit in December 2021. Image: SpaceX/Twitter

What makes today's scrub even surprising is that the Falcon 9 booster (booster 1078) is a brand new rocket that would have flown for the first time today. Before giving the go ahead for the launch yesterday, NASA and SpaceX had studied another problem with a different rocket that had flown a batch of Starlink satellites recently and had successfully flown for the 12th time. However, this problem was related to a 'combustion event' in the rocket's engine nine, and before concluding the launch readiness review, NASA and SpaceX had thoroughly investigated booster 1078 after its static fire and concluded that the problem with the Starlink booster was not replicated on the new booster.

Since the hold occurred at roughly 01:42, it will be close to three in the morning before propellants are successfully offloaded from the vehicle. This is because the rocket was almost fully loaded before the launch was canceled.

Now that the astronauts are waiting to disembark from the rocket, the next launch attempt is roughly 24 hours from now. The launch scrub was particularly disappointing as the weather was 95% favorable for liftoff, and teams had only forceasted a minor conjunction unrelated to the Dragon with the International Space Station.

While initially it appeared as if the issue was with the Falcon 9 itself, commentators on the NASA stream later explained that the problem was with the ground equipment used to load propellants on the rocket. This is also more likely sine the Falcon 9 has yet to present any problems with TEA-TEB so far, and SpaceX should share more details about it soon.

SpaceX also confirmed that it was a ground system issue in a tweet made soon after the scrub:

Standing down from tonight's launch of Crew-6 due to a TEA-TEB ground system issue. Both Crew-6 and the vehicles are healthy and propellant offload has begun ahead of the crew disembarking Dragon

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 27, 2023