A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket stands on launch complex 40 moments after an evening launch attempt was scrubbed at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015. AP
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A deep-space observatory has to wait yet another day before flying.
The SpaceX company called off Sunday’s launch attempt because of trouble with rocket-tracking radar. The company targeted Monday, but decided to wait until Tuesday for better weather.
That gives SpaceX time to replace a video transmitter on the first-stage booster of the Falcon 9 rocket. Following liftoff, the leftover booster is supposed to flip around and aim for a platform floating off Florida’s coast. The landing test has been tried once before, without success.
Former US Vice President Al Gore came up with the idea for a spacecraft that constantly observes Earth in the 1990s, but the program was canceled and the satellite shelved. The Deep Space Climate Observatory is a refurbished version.