SpaceX calls off satellite launch with only 33 seconds to go after cruise ship sails dangerously close to rocket
A cruise ship has forced the delay of a SpaceX launch after travelling under the planned flight path of the rocket.
Elon Musk’s space company was set to launch the rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in order to put an Earth-imaging satellite above the planet.
However, the coast guard could not clear the liner out of the rocket’s downrange hazard area in time for the launch – causing another delay just 33 seconds before the rocket was set to launch. The rocket will make the attempt again later today.
"We did have a cruise liner making its way towards the no-go zone that the coast guard was unable to clear out in time," SpaceX production manager Jessie Anderson said in a webcast.
He added that the company "will try one more time" to launch the rocket.
This is the fourth time such a launch has been attempted. The first three attempts – on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday last week – were put off due to bad weather.
SpaceX has not identified which cruise ship caused the delay Sunday, Spaceflight Now reports, but liners from Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises departed Port Canaveral on Sunday evening, just south of the launch site.
When the COSMO-SkyMed radar satellite is launched, it will be the fifth polar orbit mission launched by SpaceX since 2020. Previously, a mission had not been launched from Cape Canaveral since 1969.
Its journey into polar orbit means that SpaceX must launch the 2.2-ton satellite south from the pad rather than using the east or northeast plans used by rockets launching from Florida.
