There will be no more rocket launches this year for SpaceX, which announced Wednesday it will not be ready to resume flights on Dec. 16 as the company had intended. The delay marks the second time the California company has had to postpone launch operations as the probe into the Sept. 1 rocket explosion at Cape Canaveral is finalized. SpaceX said it’s still prepping and working on “extended testing” for what it now hopes to be a January launch of 10 satellites under contract with Iridium Communications. According to a CNNMoney report, the company also iswaiting for the FAA and NASA to complete reviews of the investigation of the Sept. 1 launch-pad burnup during a test, which appears to have been caused by supercooled liquid oxygen fuel solidifying and then reacting with pressurized helium, causing multiple explosions atSpace Launch Complex 40.
“We are finalizing the investigation into our September 1 anomaly and are working to complete the final steps necessary to safely and reliably return to flight, now in early January with the launch of Iridium-1,” SpaceX said in a brief statement. “This allows for additional time to close-out vehicle preparations and complete extended testing to help ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to launch.” The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, had been optimistic soon after the accident that launches would resume by November. Those plans were put off until the now-cancelled Dec. 16 target date as Musk said the investigation revealed a “really surprising problem that’s never been encountered before in the history of rocketry.” SpaceX rockets have suffered a series of destructive incidents including a post-launch structural failure on a Dragon rocket in June 2015, which delayed further flights for six months.
