CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. — For the second day in a row, SpaceX has postponed its launch of a next-gen GPS satellite because of a sensor on the rocket's first-stage booster.
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SpaceX announced Wednesday night that it is rescheduling the launch Thursday morning. The 26-minute launch window opens at 9:03 a.m. EST, but the company also said in a tweet that weather is looking 20 percent favorable, and that weather "remains a challenge."
Earlier today, SpaceX said it was "standing down" from the launch of the new guidance satellite. It's still dealing with the same problem it had Tuesday during the launch countdown: an issue with a sensor reading on the Falcon 9's first-stage booster.
Weather and a technical issue forced SpaceX to call off Tuesday's launch attempt. Just minutes before Tuesday's launch, the Falcon 9 launch was postponed because of a faulty sensor reading on the rocket's first stage. Upper-level winds were also a problem.
SpaceX hasn't announced a date or time for the third launch attempt.
Whenever it does launch, this third-generation satellite will help U.S. troops around the world.
Lockheed Martin built the GPS 3 and says it will be able to work with other countries' satellites. Right now, GPS receivers are accurate to within 10 feet. However, with the new fleet of satellites, they will be able to pinpoint a person's location within 3 feet.
The next-gen satellites will also be used for navigation apps on smartphones.
"In the future there's going to be all these international satellites up there, helping GPS," Lockheed Martin spokesman Chip Eschenfelder said. "So more points in the sky (means) greater connectivity for civilian users."
Vice President Mike Pence was among those disappointed they couldn't see Tuesday's launch. He was at the Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch and announced a new space command to oversee military operations in space.
Pence said foreign nations have been developing electronic weapons to jam, blind and disable satellites like the one currently on the launch pad prepping for liftoff.
The U.S. Space Command is separate from the administration's plans to create a Space Force, which would be an entirely new branch of the military. He reiterated that the administration is working with Congress to create a Space Force by 2020.
Wednesday's 26-minute launch window was supposed to open at 9:07 a.m. EST and the Falcon 9 is sitting at Space Launch Complex 40.
Because of requirements from the U.S. Air Force, SpaceX was not going to attempt to land and recover the first stage booster after launch.
In West Texas, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin was scheduled to launch one of its rockets into space, but the launch was postponed because of an issue on the ground.
Blue Origin tweeted that it is monitoring incoming weather, but it's looking at trying again Friday.
That mission will carry NASA-sponsored research and experiments into space, including a science payload for a team from UCF.
A third launched scheduled for Wednesday — a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy — is still scheduled to lift off at 8:44 p.m. ET after it was postponed because of high winds. That rocket is slated to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, with the NROL-71 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.