CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX's launch of an Air Force GPS satellite was scrubbed Saturday due to upper-level winds. The new launch attempt is scheduled for Sunday at 8:51 a.m.
Air Force Command officials say the government shutdown won't create another delay for the launch, which will be SpaceX's last of the year. It's now been rescheduled four times.
Recommended Videos
SpaceX was targeting a 9:21 a.m. Falcon 9 rocket liftoff from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch of the Global Positioning System III satellite is the first national security launch by SpaceX for the Air Force.
On Saturday at midnight, the U.S. government was placed in a partial shutdown, as lawmakers are in a stalemate with President Donald Trump. The launch will be unaffected because Trump signed the FY19 appropriations bill in September, which included a full year of funding for the Department of Defense.
"Because the Department of Defense is funded for FY19, there will be no furlough for Air Force employees in the event of a partial government shutdown. As such, launch operations would continue," a spokesperson for the 45th Space Wing Public said in an email to News 6.
However, about half of the federal employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will be furloughed, according to a letter to the Office of Management and Budget from NASA’s chief financial officer.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will remain open, as a private company operates the complex.
The Lockheed Martin-built satellite is the first of the U.S. Air Force’s third-generation satellite constellation. The full suite of GPS III satellites is expected to be operational by 2021.
SpaceX previously tried to launch on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The three attempts were first thwarted by a sensor issue on the Falcon 9 first stage and then poor weather Thursday, when much of Central Florida was under a tornado watch.
SpaceX does not plan to land the Falcon 9 booster because it will require all of its fuel to carry the 8,533-pound satellite to medium-Earth orbit.
For more SpaceX Coverage visit: ClickOrlando.com