The Commander is Still Not Confident for the Scheduled Lift of GPS 3

As the news id coming from SpaceX about Falcon 9 launch of the Air Force first GPS 3 satellite. Air Force is going to make another attempt on Wednesday at Florida‘s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The commander of the launch operations at the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral said it was a correct decision as the launch was called off.

Douglas Schiess who is the Air Force Brigadier General during a conference told Space News that, "We noted that some sensors gave us a little bit of alarm so we decided to hold the launch at that time, The team is always inclined towards the mission assurance and safety of man and property as main priorities," that on the call were Heather Wilson, Air Force Secretary and the commander of the Air Force Space, Lt. Gen. John Thompson and Missile Systems Center. Heather Wilson was there at Cape Canaveral to observe the launch with Vice President Mike Pence. The 45th Space Wing is responsible to ensure public safety during every launch which was scheduled from Cape Canaveral or Kennedy Space Center. The weather is not a real concern for the launch; the real reasons as told by Air Force Brigadier General were that they are working through some technical issues that could cause more delay to the launch beyond the coming day. Now the team will be concerned if the GPS 3 launch could be held tomorrow or there would be a bunch of unsolved issued in front of them. As they mentioned that when they get ready and get the rocket in good condition, they will be looking to get a great launch of the first EELV for SpaceX. The Evolved Expendable Vehicle Launch is the Air Force’s program that procures the launch services. Many people are looking forward to see the big launch of the GPS satellite in the coming morning. But safety and the mission assurance is the priority, thus delaying the mission was the right chice made. This is SpaceX's first mission was awarded by the Air Force as under the EELV program. This contract was initially awarded to SpaceX 2 and half years ago in April 2016. SpaceX has also made an additional contract of four GPS 3 launches and all of them will be launched on Falcon 9 at Florida‘s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://spacenews.com/air-force-launch-commander-not-confident-gps-3-will-lift-off-as-scheduled/