The astronomical spectacle that promised to be for Puerto Rico was the launch today, Tuesday, of the Falcon 9 rocket SpaceXit will not be possible after the company postponed the takeoff for tomorrow night, Wednesday.
The company founded by Elon Musk announced that the launch will occur, conditions permitting, sometime between 5:47 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
“Due to unfavorable weather conditions for the recovery process (of the main rocket), we now aim to launch the Falcon 9 for Wednesday, October 23 from Florida,” the company said in a post on the X social network.
Initially, the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC) reported, in written statements, that The company would try to launch a rocket at 6:56 pm this Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, in the state of Florida.
However, the launch was delayed to 8:48 pm. Later, it was postponed to Wednesday.
Where to look?
The educational entity pointed out that, if the rocket is launched tomorrow, those who wish to observe it should direct their gaze towards the sky in a northwesterly direction, looking towards the horizon.
“An alternative for those who do not know which way is northwest would be to use the compass built into cell phones and look 330 degrees. It is important to avoid visual obstructions such as trees or structures since the rocket trail will be visible at a low elevation above the horizon,” the SAC recommended.
The Falcon 9 would be transporting another group of 23 Starlink satellites into space as part of a constellation of these to provide satellite Internet.
The entity, in turn, indicated that rocket launches are likely to be postponed.
Why are these rockets launched in the direction of Puerto Rico?
Previously, the SpaceX company launched its rockets towards the Atlantic Ocean. However, since the beginning of 2020, the company began launching them towards Puerto Rico. This not only allowed the satellites to be placed in the desired orbit, but also provided an advantage: recovering the first stage of the rocket.
In a previous interview with The New Daythe scientific communicator of the SAC, Eddie Irizarry Robles, He explained that, during this stage, the rocket appears as if it were descending in reverse, so a robotic boat or platform must be placed to receive it. In the past, these boats were located in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean towards the northeast.
However, when SpaceX decided to launch in the direction of Puerto Rico, it calculated that, if they located these platforms in calmer waters, such as those in the direction of the Bahamas Islands, the robotic boat would be more established, so there would be greater probability of recovering the first stage of the rocket.