SpaceX forced to abort launch after cruise ship sails too close

[Kennywood]

SpaceX forced to abort launch after cruise ship sails too close
By Thomas Barrabi

Elon Musk’s SpaceX was forced to abort a planned rocket launch this weekend after a cruise ship sailed too close to the mission.

Less than a minute before the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was set to take off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday, an operator announced it would be held due to a “ship in the hazard area.”

“We did have a cruise liner making its way toward the ‘no-go’ zone that the Coast Guard was unable to clear out,” SpaceX production manager Jessie Anderson said during a live broadcast.

“As we mentioned, we do have a backup opportunity tomorrow, so we will try one more time tomorrow. The vehicle is still healthy, the payload is healthy, everything was looking good for an on-time liftoff today aside from the range,” she added.

The rocket launch, which will send an Earth observation satellite to the Italian Space Agency, had already been called off three times due to inclement weather conditions.



SpaceX said it is “setting up for next opportunity tomorrow, January 31 at 6:11 p.m. EST.”

A Port Canaveral spokesperson said the Coast Guard is investigating the incident, Florida Today reported. Two Royal Caribbean cruise liners were set to leave the port on Sunday, but it’s unclear if either ship was the one that entered the “no-go” zone.

Source: www.nypost.com

 

[PrincessShmoo]

SpaceX forced to abort launch after cruise ship sails too close
By Thomas Barrabi

Elon Musk’s SpaceX was forced to abort a planned rocket launch this weekend after a cruise ship sailed too close to the mission.

Less than a minute before the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was set to take off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday, an operator announced it would be held due to a “ship in the hazard area.”

“We did have a cruise liner making its way toward the ‘no-go’ zone that the Coast Guard was unable to clear out,” SpaceX production manager Jessie Anderson said during a live broadcast.

“As we mentioned, we do have a backup opportunity tomorrow, so we will try one more time tomorrow. The vehicle is still healthy, the payload is healthy, everything was looking good for an on-time liftoff today aside from the range,” she added.

The rocket launch, which will send an Earth observation satellite to the Italian Space Agency, had already been called off three times due to inclement weather conditions.

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SpaceX said it is “setting up for next opportunity tomorrow, January 31 at 6:11 p.m. EST.”

A Port Canaveral spokesperson said the Coast Guard is investigating the incident, Florida Today reported. Two Royal Caribbean cruise liners were set to leave the port on Sunday, but it’s unclear if either ship was the one that entered the “no-go” zone.

Source: www.nypost.com

I checked the Ship Tracker website when it happened and it looked like it was Harmony of the Seas.

 

[DCL Repeaters]

This was live on the local news here in Central Florida last night. It was a MSC cruise ship.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

This was live on the local news here in Central Florida last night. It was a MSC cruise ship.

The MSC ship was in the harbor canal. That was not part of the exclusion zone. There's a good discussion over on another forum regarding this,

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/top...-launch-cancellation/page/2/#comment-62559807

 

[tkd lisa]

This actually created an expected thrill for me and my mom. I live on the East side of tampa and we were driving to pick up dinner when mom said, "look at those really bright contrails. Must be a military plane cause it's going really fast." Just then, the booster separated which was super cool to watch. We figured it must be the spacex launch.

It's really rare to see launch activity all the way in Floridas West coast, but I actually saw the last shuttle launch that way too.

 

[Kennywood]

It was indeed the Harmony of the Seas:

The US Coast Guard has opened an investigation after a Royal Caribbean cruise ship sailed too close to a SpaceX rocket launch Sunday, forcing the liftoff to be aborted, Florida Today reported.

An operator called off the mission about 30 seconds before SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to take off Sunday evening because a cruise liner was approaching the launch site's no-go zone.

"We can confirm the cruise ship was Harmony of the Seas," US Coast Guard spokesperson David Micallef said in a statement. "The Coast Guard is actively investigating Sunday's cruise ship incursion and postponement of the SpaceX launch."

Port Canaveral CEO John Murray told Florida Today that it was an "isolated incident that happened outside of our control."

Murray confirmed to Florida Today that the Coast Guard was conducting a full investigation into the situation.

Source: www.businessinsider.com