Thursday, January 10, 2019

SpaceX Aims At Friday Morning For Vandenberg Launch

Hawthorne-based SpaceX has rescheduled its next launch from the West Coast, its Iridium-8 satellite launch, for tomorrow, January 11th, and 7:31 a.m. PST. SpaceX has already successfully launched a number of the Iridium satellites into orbit from Vandenberg. SpaceX delayed the launch from Tuesday, due to the storm system coming through Southern California. SpaceX said in its last update that the weather is 60% favorable for the launch on Friday. The launch, if it occurs, should be visible again across San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles County. Although SpaceX has not released any details on its plans, it has a number of ocean going vessels involved in this launch, including its floating landing platform, and Mr. Steven, a boat it has been using to try to catch the rocket fairing (the outer cover which protects the rocket payload) for future re-usage. Those vessels were all moving out towards the launch clearance zone off the coast of Southern California on Wednesday evening, despite rough ocean conditions.