SpaceX eyes Saturday night for Falcon 9 launch
SpaceX crews are gearing up to launch Brevard County’s fourth orbital rocket of the year during a 41⁄2-hour window on Saturday night, federal navigational warnings show.
Though SpaceX has yet to publicly confirm this mission’s existence, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and U.S. Coast Guard navigational warnings indicate a rocket launch window will open at 7:52 p.m. EST. More details:
● Mission:
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a new batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
● Launch window:
7:52 p.m. Saturday to 12:23 a.m. Sunday.
Launch Complex 40. Southeast.
No.
Drone ship out
● Location:
● Trajectory:
● Local sonic boom:
● Booster landing:
on the Atlantic Ocean.
Starts 90 minutes floridatoday.com/
● Live coverage:
before space.
The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron has yet to issue a detailed forecast on the Starlink 6-37 mission. National Weather Service meteorologists predict a 20% chance of showers,
liftoff
at mostly cloudy skies, a low around 52 and north wind of 10 to 15 mph Saturday night at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This marks the first launch attempt from the Cape since last weekend’s SpaceX-United Launch Alliance doubleheader, which saw rockets soar aloft within 8 hours and 43 minutes. A Falcon 9 Starlink mission preceded the history-making 2:18 a.m. Sunday maiden launch of ULA’s new Vulcan rocket, which was equipped with two side boosters.
The Vulcan carried Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander into orbit – but the mission went awry right away because of a propellant leak. Company officials later announced that a moon landing is no longer possible.
Peregrine continues traveling away from Earth with a dwindling fuel supply. By Wednesday night, the lander was located more than 200,000 miles from its home planet.
For the latest launch schedule updates from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1