Falcon 9 static fire. (Credit: SpaceX)
The U.S. Air Force says it will not be able to certify SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to launch sensitive defense payloads before the middle of 2015, thus missing its goal of having finished the certification process by last month.
Officials said SpaceX had met 80 percent of the criteria for certification, and they praised the company for its efforts to complete the process and resolve outstanding issues.
Last year, SpaceX sued the Air Force over a 36 rocket core bulk buy contract it awarded United Launch Alliance. The company says it should be able to compete for some of those contracts. However, the U.S. Air Force has said SpaceX must go through a rigorous certification process first.
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