SpaceX crews are preparing for Brevard County's fourth orbital rocket launch of the year during a 4 1/2-hour window Saturday evening, according to federal navigational warnings.
Although SpaceX has not yet publicly confirmed the existence of this mission, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and US Coast Guard navigational warnings indicate that the launch window for the rocket will open at 7:52 PM EST. More details:
- a task: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a new batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
- Launch window: 7:52 PM Saturday to 12:23 AM Sunday.
- location: Launch Complex 40.
- a path: southeast.
- Local sonic boom: no.
- Booster landing: Drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before takeoff at floridatoday.com/space.
The Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron has not yet issued a detailed forecast about the Starlink 6-37 mission. National Weather Service meteorologists are forecasting a 20% chance of rain, mostly cloudy in the sky, a low of about 52 degrees and north winds of 10 to 15 mph Saturday night at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This marks the first launch attempt from the Cape since the SpaceX-United Launch Alliance dual flight last weekend, which saw the rockets soar aloft in 8 hours and 43 minutes. The history-making Falcon 9 Starlink mission was preceded at 2:18 a.m. Sunday by the maiden launch of ULA's new Vulcan rocket, which was equipped with two side boosters.
Vulcan carried Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander into orbit, but the mission was immediately aborted by a fuel leak. Company officials later announced that landing on the moon was no longer possible.
Peregrine continues to travel farther from Earth as fuel supplies dwindle. By Wednesday night, the spacecraft was 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 the website floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Rick Neil He is Florida Today's space correspondent (for more of his stories, click here.) Call Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @Rick Neal1
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