diff --git a/tfx/orchestration/experimental/core/pipeline_ops.py b/tfx/orchestration/experimental/core/pipeline_ops.py
index 76188665f9e..0e5ed9fc564 100644
--- a/tfx/orchestration/experimental/core/pipeline_ops.py
+++ b/tfx/orchestration/experimental/core/pipeline_ops.py
@@ -1298,9 +1298,15 @@ def orchestrate(
   if filter_fn is None:
     filter_fn = lambda _: True
 
-  all_pipeline_states = pstate.PipelineState.load_all_active_and_owned(
-      mlmd_connection_manager.primary_mlmd_handle
-  )
+  # Try to load active pipelines. If there is a recoverable error, return False
+  # and then retry in the next orchestration iteration.
+  try:
+    all_pipeline_states = pstate.PipelineState.load_all_active_and_owned(
+        mlmd_connection_manager.primary_mlmd_handle
+    )
+  except Exception as e:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
+    raise e
+
   pipeline_states = [s for s in all_pipeline_states if filter_fn(s)]
   if not pipeline_states:
     logging.info('No active pipelines to run.')
diff --git a/tfx/orchestration/experimental/core/pipeline_ops_test.py b/tfx/orchestration/experimental/core/pipeline_ops_test.py
index 56bb1151871..0d58e8c00b3 100644
--- a/tfx/orchestration/experimental/core/pipeline_ops_test.py
+++ b/tfx/orchestration/experimental/core/pipeline_ops_test.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 from tfx.types import standard_artifacts
 from tfx.utils import status as status_lib
 
+from ml_metadata import errors as mlmd_errors
 from ml_metadata.proto import metadata_store_pb2
 
 
@@ -3590,5 +3591,7 @@ def test_orchestrate_pipelines_with_specified_pipeline_uid(
       self.assertTrue(task_queue.is_empty())
 
 
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   tf.test.main()