SpaceX confirms Monday launch attempt from California

MELBOURNE, Fla. — SpaceX has been cleared to attempt a Monday launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from California, the company's first in nearly five months.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday confirmed it has accepted the findings of SpaceX's investigation into an explosion that destroyed a rocket and commercial satellite during a Sept. 1 countdown test at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and has issued SpaceX a license for the return-to-flight mission.

A Falcon 9 carrying 10 Iridium Communications satellites is targeting a liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:22 p.m ET.

But the weather forecast is iffy, with rain expected.

On Thursday, SpaceX fueled the rocket and briefly fired its nine main engines — successfully completing the same type of pre-launch test that was in progress when the September explosion occurred.

SpaceX targets first return to flight since September

“With completion of the static fire test, our first launch has just gotten that much closer,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch, in a statement Friday. “The Iridium team has been anxiously awaiting launch day, and we’re now all the more excited to send those first ten Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit.”

The satellites are the first of 70 that SpaceX is contracted to launch for Iridium.

SpaceX on Jan. 2 announced its four-month investigation concluded that the explosion "likely" resulted from buckling in tanks that store gaseous helium, which is used to pressurize propellant tanks. Super-chilled liquid oxygen pooled in the buckles between the lining and a composite carbon overwrap covering the tanks, causing friction or breaking carbon fibers that ignited the oxygen.

The company said it would reconfigure its helium tanks and load the gas at a warmer temperature. Longer-term, the tanks will be redesigned.

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