SpaceX slammed the brakes on a Falcon 9 launch Wednesday, leaving four astronauts strapped in and two more stuck in orbit a little longer. The mission, set to blast off from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A, hit a wall when a hydraulic glitch in the launch tower threw a wrench into the evening’s plans—delaying the rescue of NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS).
Less than four hours before liftoff, engineers flagged a problem with the hydraulics that release one of the rocket’s support arms. That arm’s gotta tilt back flawlessly for the Falcon to soar, and with time ticking down, SpaceX couldn’t crack it. The call came with under an hour to go: scrub it. The crew—two Americans, a Japanese astronaut, and a Russian—stayed cool in the Crew Dragon, but they’re grounded for now. SpaceX hinted at a Thursday night redo, though nothing’s locked in.
Up in space, Wilmore and Williams are clocking their ninth month aboard the ISS, a far cry from the weeklong test hop they signed up for. Boeing’s Starliner, their original ticket, belly-flopped last summer with technical gremlins—thrusters on the fritz and leaks galore. NASA bailed on it, ordering an empty return, and handed SpaceX the baton. This scrubbed launch was supposed to kick off their homecoming relay.
The internet buzzed post-scrub—X posts ranged from “SpaceX, get it together!” to “Smart move, safety first.” It’s a rare misstep for Elon Musk’s rocket juggernaut, which has made ISS runs look routine. Meanwhile, Wilmore and Williams keep orbiting, their cosmic overtime stretching on until the next rocket’s ready to roll.