- SpaceX delays begin to pile up as a trio of missions await launch, but continue to be rejected.
- SpaceX’s launch schedule is packed, and delays can have dramatic effects on future releases.
- The fifth launch of the SpaceX spacecraft could still occur this week, but it is in the air.
For much of 2020, SpaceX has stuck to a program packed with rocket launches, rarely misses a date, and even sends its first human travelers into space via its Crew Dragon spacecraft. It has been a great year for the company, but the past two weeks have been marked by multiple launch delays that are now starting to increase.
SpaceX recently delayed its next Starlink mission, which also includes the deployment of a satellite for a company called BlackSky, for the third time. There is no new release date for that mission yet, but in the meantime another delay has arrived. The launch of a South Korean military satellite that was scheduled for this week has also been delayed, and those two delays add to Starship’s fifth launch, which has experienced repeated delays but could still launch this week.
Weather delays are one thing, and SpaceX has had to deal with more than its share in the past few weeks, but delays due to hardware issues are rare for the Falcon 9 these days. The most recent delay of the Starlink mission was due to the need for additional “payments”, while the launch of the South Korean satellite was removed after the company decided it should inspect the upper stage of the rocket.
So why does all this happen at the same time? Elon Musk decided to upload to Twitter to offer a brief and vague view of the company’s line of thought.
“We are being more paranoid,” Musk said in the tweet. “Maximizing the probability of a successful launch is paramount.” The tweet was in response to a link to a news story about the delay in launching the South Korean satellite, but it also appears to apply to the other delayed missions.
SpaceX has been highly successful and much of that success is due to the reliability of the company. The early days of reusable rocket testing led to some pretty impressive reels of bloopers, but the years since the company refined its strategy have seen countless missions go smoothly.
There has been nothing to indicate that the trend will change, and obviously SpaceX decides to delay its missions to make sure that everything goes according to plan is the right move, especially if you suspect something is wrong with your high priced hardware. Still, it’s funny to see so many lags piling up, and it’s certainly out of the ordinary when it comes to SpaceX.
Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering the latest news and trends in virtual reality, handheld devices, smartphones, and future technology. Most recently, Mike served as technical editor at The Daily Dot, and has appeared on USA Today, Time.com, and countless other websites and in print. His love of reporting is second only to his addiction to games.
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