Editor’s note: SpaceX announced the target liftoff time is 9:49 PM EST on Thursday.
Original story: After launching a double-headed rocket over the weekend, SpaceX is targeting Thursday night its next Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, navigational warnings show.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, SpaceX’s Starlink 6-55 mission window will open at 9:17 PM EST on Thursday and extend until 1:48 AM on Friday.
The Falcon 9 rocket will fly on a southeast trajectory and send a constellation of Starlink internet-broadcasting satellites into low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 40. No sonic booms are expected in central Florida.
For live coverage of the FLORIDA TODAY Space team, visit floridatoday.com/space about 90 minutes before liftoff.
Cape Canaveral:Is there a launch today? SpaceX, NASA, and ULA’s upcoming rocket launch schedule in Florida
The National Weather Service expects Thursday night to be mostly clear skies, with a low around 69 degrees and southeast winds 5 to 10 mph at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Looking ahead to Monday, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to make its maiden test flight with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams on board at 10:34 p.m. Monday. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on its way to the International Space Station.
Thursday’s Starlink 6-55 mission is scheduled to become the 33rd orbital launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s adjacent Kennedy Space Center during the first four months of 2024.
If this pace continues, Cape Town could see 99 launches this year, surpassing the annual record of 72 launches set last year.
SpaceX rockets account for 30 of the 32 launches so far this year. ULA launched the other two rockets: the first Vulcan rocket on the certification mission on January 8 and the last Delta IV Heavy rocket on April 9 on the NROL-70 mission.
Rick Neil He is Florida Today’s space correspondent. Contact Neal on[email protected]. Twitter/X: @Rick Neal1
“Amateur organizer. Wannabe beer evangelist. General web fan. Certified internet ninja. Avid reader.”
More Stories
The study finds that the giant alien planet has the density of fluffy cotton candy
Europe is unsure whether its ambitious Mercury probe will be able to reach the planet
“Unprecedented” – carbon dioxide rising at a rate ten times faster than at any time in recorded history