SpaceX delays historic attempt to launch (and land) a Falcon 9 rocket

This is the first time the company will attempt to launch and then return one of its rockets to dry land.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is reading to launch 11 ORBCOMM satellites into space.

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Launching on Monday night gives the rocket a 10 percent better chance of a good landing, Musk said.

The goal of the mission is to deliver 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit for ORBCOMM, a communications company. Wired reported that, additionally, the company “has failed to land the rocket on a barge in the ocean, twice”, but that “the company recently won a contract to send astronauts to the [International Space Station] starting in 2017, and it’s in the running for a new ISS resupply contract, so it has every incentive to make sure nothing blows up”.

SpaceX will attempt to land the Falcon 9 at a former US Air Force rocket and missile testing range that was last used in 1978.

Blue Origin, a rival venture headed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, successfully landed a rocket after a launch on November 24. Meeting such rigid time constraints is one of the hardest tasks in the space launch business, and the demands are expected to be similar on Monday.

SpaceX on Sunday counted down to its first rocket launch since an explosion after liftoff destroyed its unmanned Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station six months ago.

The Hawthorne, California, company was founded in 2002 by Musk, who also serves as CEO of Tesla Motors, the electric vehicle maker.

View of the eleven ORBCOMM OG2 satellites beside the payload fairing of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launch team puts the Falcon 9 rocket and its ground support systems through a thorough countdown test during the static fire, culminating in the ignition of the rocket’s nine Merlin 1D first stage engines for several seconds while restraints keep the booster on the ground.

Today’s launch will be SpaceX’s first flight since a Falcon 9 rocket exploded over Cape Canaveral in June. Musk later said a weak strut in its Falcon 9 rocket caused the failure.

SpaceX warned residents of central Florida that they may hear a sonic boom when the rocket returns since it will be traveling faster than the speed of sound. SpaceX had to postpone the launch because of bad weather.

“If successful, this test would mark the first time in history an orbital rocket has successfully achieved a land landing”, SpaceX said in a statement.