It looked like any other day with any other Falcon 9 launch…until it didn’t.

At T-0, Falcon 9’s Merlin engines ignited, but almost immediately shut down with the rocket still on the pad at Space Launch 40. This is a rare occurrence for a SpaceX launch, and it appeared to be an automated shutdown initiated by the rocket itself at a time when the onboard computer system is in control.

Around 5:25 PM EDT, SpaceX released the following statement: “Standing down from today’s Falcon 9 launch. A new target launch date will be shared once available.”

The rocket is safely on the pad and its propellant load is being detanked at the time of this writing. The payload is safe as well.

Update 06/15/2024 6PM EDT: the rocket is safed and will be diagnosed and repaired as necessary.

A couple of things to remember about spaceflight is that first of all, “It’s better to be on the ground fixing a problem than being in the sky and wishing you were on the ground fixing the problem.” Secondly, thousands of things have to go right and only one thing has to go wrong to cause an abort.

We will add to this story as more information becomes available.