Weather Is The Culprit, Not Technology

SpaceX has pushed back its return to flight launch until January 14, according to a Tweet from launch customer Iridium.

The company Tweeted Sunday that the launch had been postponed due to "high winds and rain in forecast at VAFB. First launch of #IridiumNEXT now planned for January 14th at 9:54:34 am PST."

A major winter storm was approaching the California Coast over the weekend. SpaceX also Tweeted that the launch had been scrubbed due to the weather. "Other range conflicts this week results in next available launch date being Jan 14." the company said.

SpaceX is working towards returning to flight after a launch pad "anomaly" on September 2 destroyed a Falcon 9 booster and its payload during fueling. Sunday's launch was intended to carry 10 satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications, but that will now have to wait a few more days.

Weather conditions at Vandenberg Air Force Base north of Lompoc, CA are not expected to improve enough to allow a launch until Thursday at the earliest.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.spacex.com