The Israeli Spacecom Ltd. AMOS-17 communications satellite that was scheduled to launch this weekend is still waiting patiently at Cape Canaveral in Florida, with its flight into space tentatively rescheduled for this coming Tuesday, August 6.
READ: Israel to Launch AMOS-17 Satellite to Service Africa Communications
The rocket was given clearance to launch following the confirmation of a good static fire test carried out on Sunday (Aug. 4) by SpaceX.
Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete—team is now working toward August 6 for launch of AMOS-17 from Pad 40 in Florida, pending Range availability
— SpaceX (@SpaceX)
However, it’s not yet clear whether the schedule will be able to accommodate the Falcon 9 on Tuesday: “United Launch Alliance has reserved Thursday on the range for launch an Atlas 5 rocket with the Air Force’s AEHF 5 communications satellite, so it’s not clear if SpaceX will be able to fit in a Falcon 9 launch attempt Tuesday evening,” Space Flight Now reported.
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The Falcon 9 rocket was to have carried the satellite into space early Sunday morning (late Saturday evening, August 3), from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral.
But a decision was made to stand down for further rocket checks when an issue was detected during a static fire test of the Falcon 9 last Wednesday, July 31. A static fire is a standard prelaunch test for SpaceX missions in which the company briefly ignites a Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage on the launch pad to make sure the booster is ready for flight, according to Space.com.
The company was expected to conduct the second test-firing on the rocket Friday, following a valve replacement to resolve the issue detected during the earlier static fire test; but inclement weather prevented teams from taking the test forward.
The first stage booster on the Falcon 9 for this mission has already flown twice before, according to SpaceX, once in July 2018 and again in November that same year.
The launch of AMOS-17 comes nearly three years after the loss of the AMOS-6 satellite in an explosion. The newest AMOS satellite is expected to operate for 20 years and will provide services to customers in Africa.
