A rocket launch scheduled for the Central Coast early Wednesday morning was cancelled after an accident involving a similar rocket on the East Coast.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully took off from Cape Canaveral at 12:48 a.m. It carried 21 Starlink satellites into orbit.
But, there was a major accident when the reusable first stage booster was landing on a barge off the East Coast. Video showed a flame coming from the booster as it was touching down. It then appeared to catch on fire, and then tipped over and exploded.
No one was hurt, because the landing barges are unmanned.
As a result of the accident, SpaceX then cancelled a Falcon 9 launch scheduled for later Wednesday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base, pending an investigation.
It was the 23rd flight for the booster, which is a record number.
Despite the accident, the Falcon 9's have a remarkable safety record. There have been more than 260 successful flights and landings of the reusable boosters. The last failure dates back to February of 2021.
