SpaceX cancels Falcon 9 rocket launch from California base
Vivian Chow
SpaceX had plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California before the mission was aborted Friday night.
The rocket had a scheduled lift-off time of 6:15 p.m. PT but went through delays during several launch countdowns.
There were backup opportunities to take off until 9:58 p.m., but SpaceX officially announced the mission’s cancellation at 6:42 p.m.
The rocket was carrying a group of Starlink satellites into orbit. Takeoff had already been pushed back from Thursday night before the mission was rescheduled for Friday night.
No official cause for the called-off mission was given and a rescheduled launch date has not been announced.
According to the company, 22 satellites were scheduled to be carried to low-Earth orbit during Friday night’s mission.
SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket from a Southern California base. (SpaceX)
SpaceX preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Jan. 19, 2024. (SpaceX)
FILE – In this May 30, 2020, file photo, a SpaceX Falcon 9, with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the Dragon crew capsule, lifts off from Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. For the first time in nearly a decade, astronauts blasted towards orbit aboard an American rocket from American soil, a first for a private company. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon capsule and a crew of four private astronauts lifts off from pad 39A, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a payload of 40 satellites for OneWeb broadband communications, lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc on Dec. 22, 2017. (Credit: Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon capsule and a crew of four private astronauts, lifts off from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
In this image from video provided by SpaceX, South Korea launches its first military spy satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. Using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, it was the first of five spy satellites South Korea plans to send into space by 2025 under a contract with SpaceX. The launch took place a little over a week after North Korea claimed to put its own spy satellite into orbit for the first time as tensions rise between the rivals. (SpaceX via AP)
In this image provided by NASA, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, spacecraft onboard, sits during sunrise, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, at Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California on July 19, 2023. (SpaceX)
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The first-stage booster on this particular Falcon 9 rocket had completed 15 liftoffs so far. The boosters have previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B, and 10 Starlink missions.
After launching vertically, the Falcon was scheduled to begin a gradual turn while continuing to climb into orbit. Following stage separation after liftoff, the Falcon’s reusable booster would make a pinpoint landing back on the spaceport drone ship, “Of Course I Still Love You,” which is stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
Starlink is SpaceX’s satellite network designed to bring low-cost internet service to rural/remote communities.
After previous successful launches, Starlink now boasts over 5,000 functional satellites orbiting the Earth, about 342 miles above. The launches are part of the company’s goal to build a giant constellation of broadband satellites across the globe.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, told Business Insider he plans to eventually create a constellation of up to 42,000 satellites.
The Falcon 9 rocket is the “world’s first orbital class reusable rocket,” according to SpaceX. The reusable vessel is designed to safely transport people and payloads into the Earth’s orbit and beyond.
So far, the entire fleet of Falcon 9 rockets has clocked in 290 total launches, 248 landings and 222 reflights.
Footage of the aborted Falcon 9 launch can be seen in the video player above.
