SpaceX halted the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday with 11 seconds to spare after a plane allegedly flew into restricted airspace near the launchpad.
The California exhibition set to send Starlink satellites into orbit fell apart at the last minute when an aircraft encroached on the rocket’s launch space, according to a broadcast on Space X’s X account.
At the 12-second mark of the countdown, someone can be heard exclaiming, “Hold, hold hold!”
“Uh, held for a possible aircraft in the airspace,” the same voice can be heard saying moments later.
The launch, which was initially supposed to take place on Saturday, was then postponed, according to Business Insider.
It was not immediately clear which aircraft, if any, caused the aborted launch.
Several planes flew near the restricted area near the scheduled launch time, according to the outlet.
While social media culprits suspected Delta Flight 480, which flew from Los Angeles to Honolulu early Sunday, the airline said they followed air traffic control’s instructions and had “no issue.”
Meanwhile, audio from air traffic control shared on the YouTube channel VAS Aviation revealed an air traffic controller telling the Delta flight they would have “the best show for the rocket launch.”
Another flight, Southwest Flight SWA1311, flying from San Diego to Honolulu, was also near the launch zone at the time, but neither the airline nor the FAA received reports about the incident, according to the outlet.
The rocket was successfully launched Tuesday morning, according to the SpaceX X account.
“Falcon lands for the 400th time!” the account wrote, confirming the deployment of 27 Starlink satellites.
