SpaceX delays return to launch
December 8, 2016
By Chris Forrester
SpaceX will not be able to recommence launches this month. A statement from the rocket launch company says that the investigation team is finalising its work into the September 1st explosion. The company also says that the planned launch of a batch of ten satellites for telecoms company Iridium will not now take place on December 16th, and slip into to early January.
SpaceX is still waiting for an FCC report on its investigation into a catastrophic explosion which destroyed a rocket and its Israeli-owned Amos-6 satellite on September 1st.
SpaceX say that once the investigation work is wrapped they will then extensively test “to help ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance”.
The Iridium launch will take place from SpaceX’s Vandenberg Air Force Base facility in California. Other scheduled launches from SpaceX’s main rocket site at Cape Canaveral are also waiting for the ‘all clear’ from the FCC investigation group. These include much-needed satellites for EchoStar (E-23) and SES (SES-10), Koreasat 5A, Es’Hail-2 for Qatar and Hispasat’s Amazonas-5.