Rainy weather delays Falcon rocket launch from Vandenberg

Citing rainy and windy weather taking aim at the Central Coast this week, officials have announced the Falcon 9 rocket and its collection of satellites will have to wait a few more days to launch.

The Space Exploration Technologies rocket most recently had been set to carry its cargo of 64 satellites on Wednesday morning from Space Launch Complex-4 on South Base.

The payload for Spaceflight Industries has been dubbed SSO-A and SmallSat Express.

But with a rainy windy storm headed to the Central Coast, the team decided to stand down.

“The SpaceX Falcon 9 SSO-A launch is delayed due to weather,” Vandenberg officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

Announcement of a new launch was pending approval.

Meanwhile, the launch time for the Dec. 7 departure of United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-6 on South Base has been released.

The team will target a liftoff for 8:19 p.m. Dec. 7 to place a top -secret payload into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Due to the clandestine cargo, the length of the launch opportunity will remain classified.

Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

This story was originally published November 28, 2018 at 7:19 AM with the headline "Rainy weather delays Falcon rocket launch from Vandenberg."