SpaceX plans to return to flight in November, but not at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

  • SpaceX announces November target for return to flight
  • Launch to happen at Kennedy Space Center or Vandenberg
  • Cape Canaveral AFS launch pad damaged in explosion
  • RELATED: Upcoming Space Coast launch schedule

SpaceX announced Tuesday that it would target November for a return-to-launch date, but that launch would either happen at Kennedy Space Center or Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was damaged earlier this month when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded before a test firing.

SpaceX is still investigating the "anomaly" that caused the explosion. The rocket was being fueled ahead of the test when it exploded. SpaceX thinks the explosion occurred around the upper stage liquid oxygen tank.

SpaceX did not say how badly the launch pad was damaged in the explosion, except that it was definitely damaged and that they're investigating.

SpaceX took over Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center and has been upgrading the pad. It was on schedule to be operational in November. So was the company's launch complex at Vandenberg.

If SpaceX does launch a mission in November, it will be a regular Falcon 9 rocket launch. A planned Falcon 9 Heavy lauch will now occur sometime early in 2017, the company said.

If SpaceX chooses KSC for a November launch, it will be the first time Kennedy's Launch Pad 39A has been used since the space shuttle program shut down in 2011.