A SpaceX rocket launch planned for Tuesday afternoon at Vandenberg Space Force Base was forced to take a rain check after a widespread power outage scrubbed the liftoff, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The power outage in the Santa Barbara region disrupted telecommunications at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center, creating a “no-go condition for launch,” NASA said in post.
The control center manages air traffic over 177,000 square miles of airspace including California’s coast from L.A. to San Luis Obispo, the Ventura area and into the Pacific for about 200 miles, according to the FAA.
The decision came just 45 seconds before the rocket was set to launch, with a SpaceX official calling, “Hold, hold, hold. … We have aborted launch today due to airspace concerns.”
“The FAA took this action to ensure the safety of the traveling public,” the administration said.
The FAA also issued a ground stop at the Santa Barbara Airport on Tuesday due to the outage, the airport said in a statement. Flights were diverted and delayed. Power at the airport hadn’t been restored as of about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a spokesperson, who said that the ground stop would be lifted once power was restored to the area.
In addition, the outage disrupted 911 service throughout Santa Barbara County, according to KTLA.
As for the SpaceX launch, the rocket and its payloads were still in good shape, NASA said.
Aboard the rocket were two twin satellites, a part of NASA’s TRACERS mission — Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites.
The two satellites will study Earth’s magnetosphere by determining how magnetic explosions send solar wind particles into Earth’s atmosphere, and how those particles affect space technology and astronauts.
The launch was rescheduled to Wednesday at 11:13 a.m., NASA said. It will take place at Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg.
Last month, a SpaceX launch from the same location lit up the night sky across Southern California.
