SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rescheduled to launch from Southern California. Here's when
The Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California was canceled on Friday night due to unfavorable weather conditions expected on Saturday. SpaceX announced that the rocket will now launch tonight.
"Standing down from tonight's Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites due to unfavorable weather," SpaceX posted to X, formerly known as Twitter around 5:50 p.m. on Friday. "Now targeting tomorrow, April 6."
The liftoff was originally scheduled for March 28, then rescheduled to March 30. This liftoff was also canceled due to unfavorable weather conditions.
SpaceX posted on X at approximately 10:20 p.m. on Saturday night to announce the delayed launch. Initially, there was no rescheduled liftoff time for the rocket. On April 4, they announced on X that the satellites would take off on April 5.
The first-stage booster that would have been attached to the rocket in Saturday’s launch was set to land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the Pacific Ocean after separating from the rocket. In Falcon 9 rockets, the first-stage booster is a reusable component meant to propel the rocket out of the atmosphere before detaching and landing on Earth.
Viewers can follow the launch live on SpaceX’s X account through a webcast, which will start about five minutes before liftoff.
SpaceX initially anticipated the satellites to be deployed roughly 62 minutes after liftoff and launched into low-Earth orbit.
Abigail Celaya is a breaking news reporter for The Republic. Reach her at abigail.celaya@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram @acelayajournalism.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rescheduled to launch tonight
