Live coverage: Kennedy Space Center to reopen Friday

A troublesome liquid oxygen valve on the Space Launch System’s first flight-rated core stage will keep NASA from performing a second test-firing of the rocket’s four main engines this week.

A major test of the system that would shoot SpaceX astronaut crews away from a failing rocket is scheduled for no earlier than May 5 from a specially-built mount at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad, NASA announced Tuesday.

The Starlink 6-66 mission comes near the end of a week during which SpaceX launched three Falcon 9 rockets in less than 20 hours and a Starship rocket. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 11:07 a.m. EST (1607 UTC).