Subtropical Storm Nicole delays SpaceX launch to Saturday

By Mike Wall
published

SpaceX had been aiming to launch two spacecraft for Intelsat on Tuesday (Nov. 8).

A long-exposure photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching the Hotbird 13F satellite for Eutelsat on Oct. 15, 2022.
A long-exposure photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching the Hotbird 13F satellite for Eutelsat on Oct. 15, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Mother Nature has pushed SpaceX's next launch back by at least four days.

SpaceX had been planning to launch the Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 satellites for the telecom company Intelsat atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday (Nov. 8). But concerns about a newborn storm system named Nicole, which is gathering strength in the Atlantic and appears headed for the Space Coast, have forced a delay.

"Teams at the Cape are preparing for Tropical Storm Nicole and are now targeting no earlier than Saturday, November 12 for Falcon 9's launch of the Intelsat G-31/G-32 mission to orbit from SLC-40 [Space Launch Complex-40]," SpaceX said via Twitter today (opens in new tab) (Nov. 7).  

"The vehicle and payload are secure in the hangar and will remain there through the duration of the storm," the company added in another tweet (opens in new tab).

Related: 8 ways that SpaceX has transformed spaceflight

Technically, Nicole is classified as a subtropical storm, because it exhibits characteristics of both tropical storms and extratropical storms, as USA Today explained (opens in new tab). But it could still grow into a hurricane and pummel the southeastern coast of the United States with strong winds and heavy rains over the coming days, experts say.

Indeed, Florida's Atlantic coast — which includes Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's nearby Kennedy Space Center (KSC) — is now under a hurricane watch (opens in new tab). 

Despite the gathering storm, NASA still intends to launch its highly anticipated Artemis 1 moon mission from KSC on Nov. 14. The agency doesn't plan (opens in new tab) to roll the Artemis 1 stack — a Space Launch System rocket topped by an Orion crew capsule — off KSC's Pad 39B for protection, as it did in late September to shelter from Hurricane Ian.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There (opens in new tab)" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).  

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com (opens in new tab) and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.