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Posted on: Feb. 10th, 2006 - www.space.com

A private launch firm has scrubbed its third attempt to make the inaugural launch of its Falcon 1 rocket after problems cropped up during a planned engine test, the company said late Thursday.

The El Segundo, California-based firm Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) hoped to debut its first Falcon 1 rocket in a Feb. 10 space shot from its equatorial launch site at Kwajalein Atoll on the Pacific Ocean. But after a day of system and vehicle tests, the firm stood down.

"It looks like we are scrubbed for two weeks,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk told SPACE.com late Thursday in an e-mail message. “However, we are going to try and static fire tomorrow, since we still have that day available from the range.”

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