SpaceX announced on Dec. 20 that it has decided to postpone the planned launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, which carries 11 Orbcomm communications satellite, was rescheduled to 8:33 PM Eastern Time on Dec. 21.
Experts are predicting that there will be an 80 percent chance of a more favorable weather on the new schedule. The Falcon 9 rocket will have a one-minute launch window at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that analysis of the upcoming weather on Dec. 21 shows better odds of landing the Falcon 9 booster back at the launch pad, according to Yahoo News.
On the other hand, Orbcomm said that the launch team is carefully analyzing data from the static fire test that was performed on Dec. 18. The static fire test briefly fired the Falcon 9's nine main engines and then deep chill its liquid oxygen propellant.
SpaceX is hoping that it could successfully launch the Falcon 9 and then safely land it back. This will open a whole new idea of rocket reusability in the future.
In a statement obtained by USA Today, Musk said, "It's really a massive difference if we can make reusability work."
SpaceX has been experimenting with rocket reusability for quite some time already. The company has not been very successful so far, following two near misses earlier this year. On those two attempts, both stages hit their targets but ultimately crashed.
On the other hand, Blue Origin, a company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, demonstrated in November that it is possible to land a rocket after it was launched. Blue Origin managed to achieve by using a much smaller rocket that launched a space capsule on suborbital spaceflight.