ARTCC controller reported of a rocket launch they thought had been cancelled. Moments later pilots r...

Attributes
ACN	1337884
Time
Date	201603
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Other
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	None
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 5
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

We were told that the rocket launch had been scrubbed and that we were going to 'do it again tomorrow'. A few minutes later; multiple aircraft reported seeing the rocket airborne. I reported the event to my supervisor who questioned me because the rocket had been scrubbed. Supervisor called up front; where they confirmed it was scrubbed. Shortly afterwards; we learned that the rocket had launched and we were to continue launch day procedures. Communication needs to be improved.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ARTCC Controller reported of a rocket launch they thought had been cancelled. Moments later pilots reported seeing a rocket airborne. Controller reported this to the Front Line Manager.

Narrative: We were told that the rocket launch had been scrubbed and that we were going to 'do it again tomorrow'. A few minutes later; multiple aircraft reported seeing the rocket airborne. I reported the event to my supervisor who questioned me because the rocket had been scrubbed. Supervisor called up front; where they confirmed it was scrubbed. Shortly afterwards; we learned that the rocket had launched and we were to continue launch day procedures. Communication needs to be improved.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

ARTCC controller reported of a rocket launch they thought had been cancelled. Moments later pilots reported seeing a rocket airborne. Controller reported this to the front line manager.