The first space launch of the year by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, the private space transport company headed by visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk, is now on hold until at least Monday, Jan. 5.

The lift-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida of the Falcon 9 rocket, which will carry a Thai commercial communications satellite into orbit, was originally set for today. But an announcement by SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin indicated a decision was made to conduct more rocket inspections "to ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance."

Shanklin didn't offer further detail any specific technical problems the company may be investigating.

Launch attempts could also be made next Wednesday, Jan. 8, through Sunday, Jan. 12, according to the Air Force's 45th Space Wing.

The upcoming launch would be SpaceX's third with an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket featuring more powerful Merlin engines and 43-foot payload fairing, a nose-cone structure designed to protect the rocket payload from external pressure and other elements.

SpaceX successfully flew a similar mission from the Cape last month for Luxembourg-based SES.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had planned to brief the media today on a tracking and data relay satellite the agency is preparing for a Jan. 23 liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, which is being processed at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., before being moving to the launch pad.

On Thursday, NASA also confirmed plans by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. to launch a resupply mission to the International Space Station next week.

The company's Antares rocket and unmanned Cygnus spacecraft are schedule to blast off at 1:55 p.m. Tuesday, the first of eight missions under a $1.9 billion contract with the space agency.

That mission was delayed in December after the station's cooling system broke down and astronauts had to complete two emergency spacewalks before Christmas to fix the problem.

SpaceX is currently developing a third version of the Falcon rocket, a reusable variant of the Falcon 9 that will include extensible landing legs on the lower portion of the first-stage booster, as well as changes to the attitude control technology for the rocket and guidance control system software.

The Falcon improvements will be largely based on the ground-landing technology being developed via SpaceX's Grasshopper technology demonstrator, along with a set of technologies that will facilitate rapid reusability of the rocket's first and second stages.