SpaceX launches may resume Dec. 19, 6 months after accident

SpaceX will perform a static fire for their Falcon 9 rocket on the 16th of December, if all goes to plan their next test flight will take place on the 19th of December. Since then all SpaceX launches have been halted as the company launched a thorough investigation into the incident, and now it’s confident to resume launches, it’s planning to launch another Falcon 9 on December 19th. Instead of landing this one in the ocean, it will be attempted to land it on solid ground at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Shortly after the takeoff, Falcon 9 had a mid-air explosion that was cause by a faulty strut in the rocket’s fuel tank. A Falcon 9 is also horizontal relative to the Earth’s surface when it begins falling, meaning that the first stage has to be flipped vertically before landing.

And, on its last attempt in June, the rocket disintegrated two minutes into launch – the first attempt in 18 where failure didn’t happen at landing.

SpaceX, after having encountered a disaster recently where in a failed struct cause self destruction of its Falcon 9 rocket is eagerly looking ahead for this launch date to test and validate their fix for the problem.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the problem has been fixed.

The next launch will carry 11 satellites to space for the company Orbcomm. Known as the Falcon 9 v1. 1 Full Thrust update implemented Merlin 1D engines, which give the rocket 30 percent more power than its previous iterations, which give the rocket better precision, even while carrying heavier loads of cargo. However, the company announced in October that it would do the Orbcomm mission first, because it would allow SpaceX to do a little extra testing.

As has been the case with 18 of the 19 launches of the Falcon 9, the launch of ORBCOMM OG2 will get its start from the Cape’s Space Launch Complex 40 located in Florida.

SpaceX has a cramped queue of launches with satellites in storage awaiting liftoff in the coming months.