SpaceX plans Starlink launch doubleheader
Liftoffs expected today, Thursday on Space Coast
A SpaceX launch doubleheader is planned today and Thursday evenings with back-to-back Starlink rocket liftoffs from Florida’s Space Coast, navigational warnings indicate.
Though SpaceX has not publicly announced these missions, Federal Aviation Administration and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warnings indicate two rocket launch windows are planned within a roughly 24-hour span.
Both launch windows last just more than 41⁄2 hours — typical of SpaceX’s Starlink missions that send payloads of broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit aboard Falcon 9 rockets.
First, the Wednesday Starlink 6-51 window will open at 5:24 p.m. and last until 9:55 p.m. EDT.
Then, Thursday’s Starlink 6-52 launch window will extend from 6:40 p.m. to 11:11 p.m.
SpaceX will launch Wednesday’s Falcon 9 from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, while Thursday’s rocket will lift off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, per the FAA.
During Starlink missions, Falcon 9 rockets ascend in a southeasterly trajectory and target landings atop SpaceX drone ships floating near the Bahamas — so Central Florida sonic booms should not occur.
The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron forecasts 90% “go for launch” conditions during both launch windows, with thick cloud layers posing the primary meteorological threat.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for mostly sunny skies Wednesday with a high near 82 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, followed by mostly sunny skies Thursday with a high near 83. Southeasterly breezes reaching 10 mph to 15 mph should prevail both days.
SpaceX’s last Space Coast launch occurred Friday, when the Starlink 6-49 mission took flight at 9:40 p.m. after an 18-minute delay.
That liftoff from Launch Complex 40 marked the quickest turnaround between launches at that facility at two days, 19 hours and 42 minutes, Space Launch Delta 45 reported.
That marked the 26th orbital launch from the Space Coast thus far this year.
The Wednesday-Thursday SpaceX doubleheader would push that total to 28 launches.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1