SpaceX rocket launch aborted in last second

This framegrab from NASA-TV shows the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket on the launch pad at complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., seconds after the launch was aborted due to technical problems early Saturday May 19, 2012. The launch is now rescheduled is rescheduled for Tuesday morning May 22, 2012 at 3:44 a.m. EDT (AP Photo/NASA)

This framegrab from NASA-TV shows the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket on the launch pad at complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., seconds after the launch was aborted due to technical problems early Saturday May 19, 2012. The launch is now rescheduled is rescheduled for Tuesday morning May 22, 2012 at 3:44 a.m. EDT (AP Photo/NASA)

This framegrab from NASA-TV shows the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket being fueled on the launch pad at complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., early Saturday May 19, 2012. The launch, scheduled for at 4:55 a.m. EDT Saturday morning will mark for the first time, a private company will send its own rocket to the orbiting International Space Station, delivering food and ushering in a new era in America's space program. (AP Photo/NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? A new private rocket is stuck on the ground after an aborted launch.

The countdown reached all the way to practically zero Saturday morning for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. A NASA spokesman said the engine ignition sequence started, but there was an automatic shutdown by on-board computers. So instead of blasting off from Cape Canaveral on a delivery mission to the International Space Station, the rocket remained on its launch pad amid a cloud of engine exhaust.

An engine pressure problem is suspected. The next launch attempt will be Tuesday, if the problem can be resolved in time.

This was the first launch attempt by one of the private U.S. companies hoping to take over the job of delivering cargo and eventually astronauts to the space station for NASA.

Associated Press

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