SpaceX satellite launch, rocket landing delayed
SpaceX on Sunday scrapped the launch of a weather satellite, which also delayed a second attempt to land part of the rocket on a floating deck in the Atlantic Ocean.
The launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory was rescheduled for Monday at 6:07 pm (2307 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, said SpaceX owner Elon Musk on Twitter. He said the launch was scrapped after Air Force tracking radar went down.
Putting the best face on the postponement, Musk said on Twitter the delay would “give us time to replace 1st stage video transmitter (not needed for launch, but nice to have).”
The launch will be the company’s second attempt to land the first stage of a rocket booster on the floating deck about 100 metres long and 60 metres wide.
Its attempt on January 10 didn’t go according to plan. The rocket reached the floating deck, but landed hard. Musk said then on Twitter that some support equipment on the deck would need to be replaced.
The test is important to the commercial company, which intends to reuse the rocket. If successful, it could be a significant step toward making space travel more affordable.
The January 10 launch was successful in sending the unmanned Dragon spaceship to the International Space Station on a resupply mission for the US space agency NASA.
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