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SpaceX CRS-20 mission moves to March 6 after valve motor misbehavior

Originally set for 1:45 a.m. on March 2, SpaceX is now looking at 11:50 pm on March 6 to launch its 20th commercial resupply service mission to the International Space Station.

A misbehaving valve motor on the second stage engine is at fault for rescheduling SpaceX CRS-20:

During standard preflight inspections, SpaceX identified a valve motor on the second stage engine behaving not as expected and determined the safest and most expedient path to launch is to utilize the next second stage in line that was already at the Cape and ready for flight.

The new second stage has already completed the same preflight inspections with all hardware behaving as expected. The updated target launch date provides the time required to complete preflight integration and final checkouts.

Slightly easier to watch from home while still benefiting from the view of a night launch.

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