{"id":13970,"date":"2018-02-24T19:19:09","date_gmt":"2018-02-24T11:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-postpones-falcon-9-launch-over-payload-fairing-concerns\/"},"modified":"2018-02-24T19:19:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T11:19:09","slug":"spacex-postpones-falcon-9-launch-over-payload-fairing-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-postpones-falcon-9-launch-over-payload-fairing-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX postpones Falcon 9 launch over payload fairing concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch pad. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX officials have postponed the launch of a Spanish-owned telecommunications satellite from Cape Canaveral planned for this weekend to conduct additional testing on the Falcon 9\u2019s payload fairing pressurization system, the company announced Saturday.<\/p>\n

SpaceX did not set a new launch date, but the mission was expected to be pushed back multiple days from its previous Sunday launch target.<\/p>\n

\u201cStanding down from this weekend\u2019s launch attempt to conduct additional testing on the fairing\u2019s pressurization system,\u201d SpaceX said in a statement posted on Twitter. \u201cOnce complete, and pending range availability, we will confirm a new targeted launch date.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to lift off during a two-hour window opening at 12:35 a.m. EST (0535 GMT) Sunday from Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch pad.<\/p>\n

The launch time is not expected to significantly change with a delay of a few days.<\/p>\n

The mission will be the fifth for SpaceX this year, and the fourth with a Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX\u2019s most recent launch was Thursday, a mission that delivered a Spanish Earth observation satellite and two broadband test craft to orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.<\/p>\n

The payload aboard the next Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral is Hispasat 30W-6, a communications satellite heading for a perch in geostationary orbit nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator.<\/p>\n

Owned by Hispasat, a Madrid-based satellite operator, Hispasat 30W-6 will begin a 15-year mission. The satellite was manufactured by SSL in Palo Alto, California.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 rocket will place Hispasat 30W-6 into an elliptical transfer orbit around a half-hour after launching from Cape Canaveral. The satellite\u2019s own propulsion system will boost it into a circular geostationary orbit a few weeks later, when the satellite is expected to enter commercial service later this spring at 30 degrees west longitude.<\/p>\n

Hispasat 30W-6 will provide C-band, Ku-band and Ka-band telecom services to customers in Europe, North Africa and Latin America, including video, data and broadband connectivity to rural communities, ships and rail travelers.<\/p>\n

SpaceX is expected to attempt a recovery of the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage booster on a ship positioned in the Atlantic Ocean for inspections and potential reuse. The first stage slated to launch Hispasat 30W-6 is a new vehicle.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch pad. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX officials have postponed the launch of a Spanish-owned telecommunications satellite from Cape Canaveral planned for this weekend to conduct additional testing on the Falcon 9\u2019s payload fairing pressurization system, the company announced Saturday. SpaceX did not set a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1736,479,3016,3017,311,2897,316,3030],"class_list":["post-13970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-complex-40","tag-falcon-9","tag-hispasat","tag-hispasat-30w-6","tag-reusability","tag-space-systems-loral","tag-spacex","tag-spain"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13970"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}