SpaceX Delays Rocket Launch Because Of Lousy Weather
By Jill Disis and Danielle Wiener-Bronner
PHILADELPHIA (CNN) -- SpaceX is pushing back its next rocket launch because of high winds and rain at its launch site in California.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which was scheduled to launch Monday, is now set to take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on January 14, the company said Sunday. The rocket will launch with 10 Iridium NEXT satellites.
The launch will be the company's first since September 1, when its rocket exploded, destroying itself and a pricey Facebook satellite made by Israeli company Spacecom.
Elon Musk's SpaceX previously said that it was ready to launch on Sunday, January 8, but conceded it had not yet received a necessary license from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA granted the license last week, the agency said in a statement Friday.
The launch will once again attempt to take a satellite into space -- 10 satellites, actually.
"The Iridium team has been anxiously awaiting launch day, and we're now all the more excited to send those first ten Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit," Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a statement.
Those satellites are designed to increase the company's speed and bandwidth. Each satellite will also host an aircraft tracking and surveillance system made by flight tracking company Aireon.
After the September explosion, SpaceX, NASA, the FAA, the U.S. Air Force and the National Transportation Safety Board launched a probe into the cause of the blast. Last Monday, SpaceX said the investigation had concluded, and blamed a failed pressure vessel in a liquid oxygen tank for the failure.
The FAA said Friday it "accepted the investigation report... and has closed the investigation."
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