SpaceX Delays The Falcon 9 Rocket Launch

After SpaceX CEO and entrepreneurial innovator Elon Musk's earlier ominous Twitter announcement on Dec. 10 that revealed the Dec. 19 launch date for the Falcon 9 rocket, the company announced that the launch has been delayed for a later date.

The reason for the delay has nothing to do with the functionality of the reusable rocket itself: rather, the reschedule was simply due to inclement weather conditions, which can greatly impact flight for the most basic of airplanes.

Musk took to Twitter again to assuage followers and SpaceX fans that the Falcon 9 launch team was working hard to find another window for the craft's inaugural launch, which was scheduled to take place at Cape Canaveral, FL.

Musk released the following tweet, alluding to the possibility of a Dec. 21 date.

This, of course, is all circumstantial — just mere hours before on the day of the originally-intended launch, Musk tweeted about his optimism for the events that were meant to take place that evening.

As of now, the takeoff is scheduled for Monday night, Dec. 21, 8:30 p.m. EST.

Overall, the delay might prove to be a greater setback than the company intended: its major competitor, the Jeff Bezos-run Blue Origin, saw its first successful launch landing of its New Shepard reusable rocket earlier this year in November. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 100 kilometers at its apex — the height where our sky officially "turns into" outer space, known as the Kármán line. Both companies are competing against each other for the commercial viability of commercial contracts with agencies such as NASA, which, as it's predicted, will one day turn a pretty penny.

Watch one of the Falcon 9's landing attempts in the video below.

Via: Slashgear