Update: (Thursday, July 27) SpaceX has delayed the Falcon Heavy launch of the Jupiter 3 EchoStar satellite from Kennedy Space Center until Friday, July 28, at 11:04 p.m. EDT.Teams at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station are still on track to launch the Falcon 9 Starlink 6-7 mission this evening, with liftoff targeted for 10:20 p.m. EDT.
It’s launch day!
Weather permitting, SpaceX teams in Florida are on track to attempt back-to-back launches from the Space Coast this evening, which carries the potential to shatter some of the Space Coast’s longest-held rocket launch records. Follow FLORIDA TODAY’s Space Team live launch coverage beginning 90 minutes before liftoff.
Here’s everything you need to know:
Less than an hour apart late Thursday, July 27, SpaceX teams are set to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with another batch of Starlink internet-beaming satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and a Falcon Heavy rocket with a communications satellite from Kennedy Space Center. Space Force forecasters predict weather conditions for both missions to be 40% “go” for liftoff.
Potential records to be broken:
- The record for the shortest amount of time between launches from the Space Coast stands at 97 minutes which was set on September 12, 1966, with the Gemini 11 mission, according to the Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45. Astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad and Richard F. Gordon launched about 90 minutes after their Agena XI docking target vehicle. They would later meet up in orbit to practice rendezvous and docking.
- Similarly, on November 11, 1966. Astronauts Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin launched aboard the Gemini 12 mission shortly after the launch of the Agena XII target vehicle on the same day to practice in-orbit rendezvous and docking.
- If both missions launch on time Thursday, SpaceX will break both long-standing records.
SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-7 from Cape Canaveral:
- Falcon 9’s liftoff is set for 10:20 p.m. EDT with a launch window that extends to 12:44 a.m. Friday, July 28.
- The 230-foot rocket will fly a southeasterly trajectory, threading between Florida’s east coast and the Bahamas.
- Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40 will host.
- The payload of that mission, Starlink 6-7, is another batch of the company’s Starlink satellites that deliver high-speed internet around the globe.
- If it launches on time, it will mark the Space Coast’s 37th launch this year and the sixth flight for the booster.
- The 162-foot booster will target a drone ship landing in the Atlantic Ocean about eight minutes after liftoff. No local sonic booms for the first mission set for Thursday night.
SpaceX double rocket launches:Where to watch, who will likely hear sonic booms
Falcon Heavy Jupiter 3 from Kennedy Space Center:
- A 230-foot, triple-core Falcon Heavy rocket will follow a trajectory to the east-northeast over the Atlantic Ocean.
- Liftoff is set for 11:04 p.m. EDT with a launch window that extends until 12:43 a.m. EDT Friday, July 28.
- Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center will host.
- The payload is the JUPITER 3 satellite for Hughes Network Systems. It’s the largest satellite ever built by Maxar Technologies. With the solar arrays fully deployed, it approaches the size of the wingspan of a commercial airliner and weighs roughly nine tons. It will join a fleet of EchoStar satellites in geostationary orbit to enhance the delivery of HughesNet internet to customers across North and South America.
- After stage separation, the twin side boosters will somersault for a double landing attempt at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zones 1 and 2.
- As the boosters return back to the Space Coast for landings, near-simultaneous double sonic booms are expected to be heard throughout the Space Coast and surrounding areas depending humidity, cloud cover, and wind direction.
- Extra performance is required for this mission which makes the center core booster expendable. SpaceX will not attempt to recover it.
- If it launches on time, it will mark the Space Coast’s 38th launch this year.
Rocket rumbles and sonic booms:SpaceX set for double launches and landings this week
What’s the weather forecast?
- Space Force forecasters project weather conditions to be 40% “go” throughout the liftoff window for both missions.
- “A weak tropical wave will push into the Florida Peninsula,” forecasters said in a report Thursday. “This system will produce scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms, with a higher coastal shower coverage.”
- The primary concern for liftoff is clouds associated with the storm system that could produce lightning around the spaceport. Recovery conditions for a booster landing aboard a drone ship at sea were listed as “low-risk.”
- Should either launch slip to a backup window around the same time 24 hours later on Friday, July 28, the weather outlook improves to a 65% chance of “go” conditions.
Look for FLORIDA TODAY’s Space Team live launch coverage of both missions set to begin 90 minutes before liftoff at https://www.floridatoday.com/space/. For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
