SpaceX Scrubs 1:17 a.m. Vandenberg Launch of SDA Satellites After Auto Abort

SpaceX scrubbed its planned 1:17 a.m. Monday launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, aborting the countdown in the final minute as the vehicle shifted into its automated startup sequence, Spaceflight Now reported.

The Ventura County Star reported that the Falcon 9 triggered an auto abort and that SpaceX, which did not provide a reason for the stop, said in a post on X that "vehicle and payload are in good health."

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Clayton Wear, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

SpaceX is now aiming for a retry no earlier than Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 1:17 a.m. PT, according to Spaceflight Now, which timestamped its update on the scrub at 4:28 a.m. EDT (1:28 a.m. PDT).

The mission, designated Tranche 1 Transport Layer A, would deploy 21 data-transport satellites for the Space Development Agency, part of the Pentagon's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. It is the first Tranche 1 batch built by Northrop Grumman, and the 21 spacecraft were delivered to Vandenberg on Sept. 28, Spaceflight Now reported.

Once in orbit, the satellites would join 63 Tranche 1 spacecraft already flying, built by York Space Systems and Lockheed Martin, Air and Space Forces Magazine reported. SDA Director Gurpartap Sandhoo told reporters during an Oct. 1 prelaunch call that checking out 21 satellites at once is a different challenge than smaller batches. "It's one thing to go through launch and early ops of one, two, maybe even three or four satellites. Twenty-one is a completely different ball of wax," Sandhoo said.

Mussi Katz, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

The booster, B1103, was to make its sixth flight and return to Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg less than seven and a half minutes after liftoff, Spaceflight Now reported. A successful landing would have been the 37th at LZ-4 and the 668th Falcon booster landing to date.