It’s a double launch today at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — starting with a mid-afternoon SpaceX Falcon 9 liftoff!
Welcome to the FLORIDA TODAY space team’s live coverage of today’s SpaceX Starlink mission 6-57 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX is now targeting 2:14 p.m. EDT — nearly two hours later than originally scheduled — to send the Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 40. Backup options remain available only until 2:48 p.m. if further delays occur. The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron is predicting a 90 percent chance of fair weather.
The Falcon 9 will deploy a batch of Starlink Internet satellites that are packed into the fairing atop the 230-foot rocket. No sonic booms are expected in Central Florida. After soaring into the sky on a southeast trajectory, the rocket’s first-stage booster will head for a landing aboard a SpaceX unmanned ship at sea 8½ minutes after liftoff.
Then tonight, NASA and United Launch Alliance are headed to 10:34 p.m. to send astronauts Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore into space aboard an Atlas V rocket and Boeing’s Starliner capsule. The spacecraft will begin its first crewed mission to the International Space Station.
When SpaceX’s live webcast, hosted on X (formerly Twitter), becomes available about five minutes before Falcon 9 liftoff at 12:36 p.m., it will be posted below the countdown clock.
Cape Canaveral:Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule in Florida
SpaceX delays launch until 2:14 p.m
Update at 23:37: SpaceX announced that the target time for liftoff is now 2:14 p.m
There is no publicly disclosed reason.
SpaceX launch countdown timeline
Update at 11:15 am: Here’s a rundown of SpaceX’s upcoming Falcon 9 countdown timeline. T-minus:
- 38 minutes: SpaceX’s launch director checks “go” for fuel loading.
- 35 minutes: First stage loading of rocket kerosene and liquid oxygen begins.
- 16 minutes: Secondary liquid oxygen refueling begins.
- 7 minutes: Falcon 9 begins engine cooling before launch.
- 1 minute: The command flight computer begins final pre-launch checks; pressurization of the fuel tank to flight pressure begins.
- 45 seconds: SpaceX’s launch director confirms “launch” for launch.
- 3 seconds: The engine controller commands the engine firing sequence to begin.
- 0 seconds: I’m taking off.
SpaceX launch preparations are underway in Brevard
Update at 10:50 a.m.: Brevard County emergency management officials have activated the agency’s launch operations support team ahead of SpaceX’s upcoming Falcon 9 launch.
SpaceX is headed for Tuesday’s Starlink launch
Update at 10:26 am: Although SpaceX has not yet announced that mission, navigational warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency indicate that another Starlink launch window will open on Tuesday morning.
This window will open less than 24 hours after today’s departure. More info:
- Mission: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink Internet satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
- Launch window: 11:08 a.m. to 4:39 p.m
- location: Substrate 39A.
- Trajectory: Southeast.
- Local sound boom: No.
- Booster Landing: A drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Live Streaming: Starts 90 minutes before departure at floridatoday.com/space.
Space Force launch forecast details
Update at 10:03 am: Details of the 45th Weather Squadron forecast, which predicts a 90% chance of “go for launch” weather:
“While the weather looks generally favorable for the initial and (Tuesday) backup launch window, there is a small risk of cumulus clouds developing with the afternoon sea breeze coming in,” the forecast said.
“As a result, the only concern for both launch windows will be for the Cumulus cloud rule,” the forecast said.
Sunshine and low fluffy white clouds dominate the sky here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center press site.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neal is a space reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale atRneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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