SpaceX’s highly effective Falcon Heavy rocket can be again in motion on Saturday (Jan. 14), and you may watch the liftoff dwell.
A Falcon Heavy is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle (KSC) in Florida Saturday at 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT) on a categorized mission for the U.S. Space Force known as USSF-67.
Watch it dwell right here at Area.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or immediately through the corporate. We’ll host the corporate’s webcast when the time comes.
Associated: Why SpaceX hadn’t flown a Falcon Heavy rocket since 2019
Saturday’s launch would be the fifth total for the Falcon Heavy. The burly rocket debuted in February 2018 with a memorable take a look at flight that despatched SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk‘s Tesla Roadster into orbit across the sun, with a spacesuit-clad model named Starman within the driver’s seat.
The Falcon Heavy launched once more in April 2019 and June 2019, sending operational satellites aloft every time. However the rocket did not carry off once more till November of final yr, on the USSF- 44 mission for the Area Power. The 40-month hole was due primarily to delays in getting buyer payloads prepared, in keeping with space trade analysts.
Like USSF-44, USSF-67 is a categorized mission. We do know a bit concerning the coming flight, nevertheless.
The primary payload is a navy communications satellite known as Steady Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM 2, which the Falcon Heavy will ship to geostationary orbit, about 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above Earth. Additionally flying Saturday is a rideshare spacecraft known as Lengthy Period Propulsive ESPA (LDPE)-3A, a payload adapter that may maintain as much as six small satellites, according to EverydayAstronaut.com (opens in new tab).
LDPE-3A will carry 5 Area Power payloads on USSF-67. Amongst them are “two operational prototypes for enhanced situational consciousness and an operational prototype crypto/interface encryption payload offering safe space-to-ground communications functionality,” Area Power officers stated in an emailed assertion on Friday (Jan. 13).
The Falcon Heavy consists of three modified SpaceX Falcon 9 first levels, that are strapped collectively. The central booster is topped with a payload-carrying higher stage.
Falcon Heavy first levels are reusable, like these of the Falcon 9. The 2 facet boosters for USSF-67 can be launching for the second time; in addition they flew on USSF-44, Area Power officers stated. The USSF-67 core booster has not flown earlier than.
If all goes in keeping with plan, the 2 facet boosters will come again to Earth shortly after liftoff on Saturday, making vertical touchdowns at Cape Canaveral Area Power Station, which is subsequent door to KSC. The central booster is not going to return, as an alternative ditching into the Atlantic Ocean.
USSF-67 is a part of a busy weekend for SpaceX. The corporate additionally plans to launch 51 of its Starlink web satellites to low Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 on Sunday morning. You possibly can watch that mission right here at Area.com as properly.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a ebook concerning the seek for alien life. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
