NASA's TRACERS mission is now scheduled to launch Wednesday using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, after SpaceX delayed Tuesday's launch due to “airspace issues.”
SpaceX officials canceled Tuesday's launch from Vandenberg Space Base in California just 45 seconds before liftoff.
The launch was cancelled “due to [Federal Aviation Administration] airspace issues that created conditions where launch was not possible,” SpaceX said on social media.
Wednesday's launch is scheduled for 11:13 a.m. PT, with a 57-minute window to place two NASA reconnaissance satellites into orbit: Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics.
The primary goal of the TRACERS mission is to “contribute to the understanding of magnetic reconnection and its impact on the Earth's atmosphere.”
In addition to the primary mission, NASA will send three science probes: Athena EPIC, Polylingual Experimental Terminal, and Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss.
The mission's launch window will open Wednesday at 11:13 a.m. PDT with 57-minute intervals at Launch Complex 4 on the east side of Vandenberg Space Force Base.
SpaceX said the Falcon 9's first stage will land at Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base approximately eight minutes after liftoff.
“There is a possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura Counties will hear one or more sonic booms during landing, but what they hear will depend on weather and other conditions,” SpaceX officials said.
Sourse: www.upi.com
