SpaceX Transporter-7 launching at midnight tonight from California
After repeated delays, the SpaceX Transport-7 mission will liftoff no sooner than 11:47 p.m. PDT tonight, April 13, 2023, (6:47 UTC on April 14) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
A cargo of dozens of small spacecraft will share the journey aboard a trusty Falcon 9 raise automobile. In accordance with SpaceX:
Transporter-7 is SpaceX’s seventh devoted smallsat rideshare mission. There shall be 51 payloads on this flight, together with CubeSats, MicroSats, hosted payloads, and orbital switch autos carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time.
The Falcon 9 will return to Vandenberg after delivering its payload to orbit. A stream of the launch will begin about 10 minutes earlier than launch.
Watch the stream here or on the participant above.
Midnight launch seen for 300 miles or extra
If the climate over the Central Coast cooperates, the midnight launch could possibly be seen for greater than 300 miles (480 km) from the launch web site. So says the Area Archive – which provides a detailed explanation – however they warning the celebs should align for good long-distance viewing:
The visibility of rockets and missiles launched from Vandenberg AFB varies enormously. Some launches are tough to see from comparatively brief distances whereas others are seen for a number of hundred miles. There are 4 major components affecting visibility: automobile trajectory, lighting situations, launch automobile kind (and) atmospheric transparency.
As of now, clear however windy skies are predicted for Vandenberg at launch time.
Cities inside the predicted radius are San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Reno, Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Las Vegas is simply exterior the radius, however observers there might get fortunate! Again in 2018, Girl Luck let individuals as far north as Humboldt County get a peak. That’s a 450-mile (725-km) long-shot.
Backside line: A midnight launch of a SpaceX rocket on April 13, 2023, from California could possibly be seen from San Francisco to Los Angeles and past.
