With seconds left in the countdown, a Falcon 9 rocket’s team declared an abort delaying the departure at least a day for a mission to deliver military satellites into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The Space Exploration Technologies team counted down toward zero on Thursday when the abort occurred with 3 seconds before the planned liftoff from Space Launch Complex-4.
“Abort. Abort. Abort,” a team member announced before the launch director confirmed the abrupt cancellation of the countdown.
The reason for the abort wasn’t immediately clear.
“The vehicle and payload remain healthy,” the SpaceX launch commentator said. “Keep in mind, the purpose of the countdown is to help us catch potential issues prior to flight. There are a thousand ways a launch can wrong and only one way it can go right.”
Clear skies Thursday morning greeted spectators hoping to catch a glimpse of the rocket’s liftoff from Vandenberg and the first-stage booster’s intended to return to the landing zone near the launch site.
SpaceX has another opportunity for liftoff Friday, likely around 7:29 a.m.
Dubbed Tranche 0, the mission involves 10 satellites as part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a new approached to buying, building and launching missile tracking and data relay spacecraft.
The customer for the mission is the Space Development Agency, which formed in 2019 and now falls under the umbrella of the U.S. Space Force.
Check back to Noozhawk for updates to this story and launch plans once they become available.
From SpaceX: Falcon 9 had an auto abort this morning, just prior to T-0. The vehicle and payload are in good health; teams are resetting for a launch attempt tomorrow, March 31 at 7:29 a.m. PT.
In the meantime, here's a photo from this morning!
📷 by SrA Rocio Romo pic.twitter.com/3AJFCu4WuY— Vandenberg Space Force Base (@SLDelta30) March 30, 2023