SpaceX launches satellites from California, Florida day after scrubs
July 23 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets with satellite payloads after they were scrubbed less than a minute before liftoff one day earlier in Florida and California.
In both situations, the rockets and payloads were in good health.
On Wednesday, the private agency launched two Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, or TRACER, for NASA at 2:13 p.m. PDT from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission was scrubbed just 45 seconds before liftoff Tuesday because of Federal Aviation Administration "airspace concerns" in the Santa Barbara area, which is midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, SpaceX launched two O3b mPOWER satellites for Luxembourg-based SES from Cape Canaveral Space Station's Pad 40 in Florida at 5:12 p.m. EDT after the mission was scrubbed 11 seconds before liftoff.
Vandenberg
The "airspace concerns" were linked to a power issue at an FAA control center.
"A regional power outage in the Santa Barbara area disrupted telecommunications at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center, which manages air traffic over the Pacific Ocean," an FAA spokesperson said in a statement to SpaceFlight Now. "As a result, the FAA postponed the SpaceX Falcon 9 TRACERS launch on Tuesday, July 22. The FAA took this action to ensure the safety of the traveling public."
The two TRACER satellites were deployed near each other to "help understand magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth's atmosphere." They were deployed into a low-Earth orbit of 367 miles.
Other payloads were the Athena EPIC, the Polylingual Experimental Terminal and the Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss.
The REAL mission will explore high-energy particles in Earth's Van Allen radiation belts scattered in the atmosphere.
Less than 8 minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9's first stage landed on SpaceX's Landing Zone 4 stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
Cape Canaveral
A reason wasn't given for the late scrubbing.
About 8 1/2 minutes after liftoff, the booster landed on Just Read the Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The same first-stage booster launched the last two satellites for SES in December 2024. The booster was also involved in the NASA Crew-10 launch and two Statlink missions.
SpaceX earlier launched eight satellites for the company into medium Earth orbit. They are stationed about 5,000 miles above Earth.
It was SpaceX's 15th SES mission with the first one in 2013.
The two mPOWER satellites were delivered by Boeing to Florida earlier this month.
"This next-generation satellite network was designed to bring connectivity to the 'other three billion' -- those who lack consistent, reliable access to communications systems," SES said on its website. "For the first time, telcos connect entire island nations, remote industries access digital tools and governments conduct vital operations to the harshest terrains."
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