Weather forcing delay for SpaceX launch attempt
Radar showed a green blob of rain covering Florida’s East Coast on Sunday that eventually delayed SpaceX’s latest launch attempt from the Space Coast until today.
A Falcon 9 carrying the Hispasat Amazonas Nexus satellite now will target liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 during a four-hour window that opens at 5:32 p.m.
Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron’s forecast said the cold front that pushed through last week had migrated back toward the state bringing storms over the region that violated constraints during Sunday’s window.
The 24-hour delay, though, has a prediction of a 90% chance for good weather.
The first-stage booster would be making its sixth flight having previously flown on SES-22, ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 and three Starlink missions.
The company will attempt a recovery on its droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
The launch is the seventh for SpaceX from Florida in 2023 and ninth overall having also launched twice from California.
The Space Coast had 57 orbital launches in 2023 and is forecast to see between 86 and 92 liftoffs in 2023 among all rocket companies.
The majority of those will be from SpaceX, but United Launch Alliance has several missions slated including the first launch of its new Vulcan Centaur rocket that arrived to Florida in January.
Also expected in the coming months is the first-ever launch for Relativity Space, which is expected to perform the first test fire of its 3D-print Terran 1 rocket as soon as this week.