NASA and SpaceX Postpone the Launch of Two Missions Due to Weather Issues

The launch of the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions was delayed again due to weather and spacecraft issues.

The night time launch of two NASA missions on a single rocket on Monday night has been postponed once more. Both seek to solve cosmic riddles, one by gazing far from Earth and the other by looking closer. NASA and SpaceX stated at the beginning of a live broadcast that the flight was being canceled due to heavy clouds over the launch area less than an hour before Monday night's planned launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The NASA spacecraft also had a problem with one of its systems. On the website X, SpaceX stated that Tuesday at 11:10 p.m. Eastern Time would be the next launch opportunity.

SPHEREx, a space telescope that will capture pictures of the entire sky in over a hundred colors that are unseen to the human eye, is the rocket's main passenger. The telescope will be accompanied by a group of satellites called PUNCH, which will investigate the solar wind and outer atmosphere of the sun.

The mission was originally planned for Saturday after a joint NASA-SpaceX launch readiness review was performed on Friday. Through NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP), which is run by the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, SMD has previously paid for dedicated rocket flights. Mark Clampin, SMD's acting deputy associate administrator, called the impending launch "a real change in how we do business" at a prelaunch press briefing.

Although this is the first SMD rideshare mission of the year, it won't be the last, according to Julianna Scheiman, director of NASA Science Missions for SpaceX. Later this year, the agency's Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) and Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) missions will embark on a rideshare mission.