Cruise Ship Causes SpaceX To Abort Rocket Launch 30 Seconds Before Blastoff

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands ready for launch at pad 40

Photo: Getty Images

A cruise ship caused a SpaceX rocket launch to abandon liftoff just seconds before taking flight.

Space.com reports the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to leave Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:11 p.m., but the cruise liner wandered into a "no-go zone" and was unable to be moved in time for the Falcon 9 to successfully launch in the allotted time.

"The vehicle is still healthy; the payload is healthy," SpaceX production manager Jessie Anderson said during the live webcast of the attempted launch via Space.com. "Everything was looking good for an on-time liftoff today, aside from the range."

SpaceX also tweeted, "standing down from today's launch of COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 due to ship in the hazard area; team is setting up for next opportunity tomorrow, January 31 at 6:11 p.m. EST," on its verified account Sunday evening.

SpaceX will reattempt to launch Falcon 9 on Monday (January 31) at 6:11 p.m., which will stream live from Cape Canaveral on Space.com and on SpaceX's official website.

SpaceX has been forced to stand down from a CSG-2 launch attempt on four consecutive days, following three straight delays brought on by bad weather.

The Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation program is a collaborative effort of several Italian agencies and uses two satellites aimed to study the Earth "using synthetic aperture radar (SAR)" and initially launched a craft in December 2019, according to Space.com.