With the threat of Hurricane Idalia past, the Space Coast business of putting rockets into orbit is back with a planned SpaceX liftoff on Thursday night that would mark the company’s ninth launch of the month.
Elon Musk’s company had also planned a California launch earlier Thursday, but delayed it until Friday.
Had it managed both, it would have set a company record for launches in a month as well as match the total number of launches it flew in 2022 with four months still left in 2023.
Instead, it will gun for launch No. 60 for the year among its Space Coast and California operations.
A Falcon 9 carrying 22 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites is targeting liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:52 p.m., although there are five backup opportunities between 8:40 p.m. and 11:29 p.m. as well as six options on Friday from 7:25 p.m. until 10:56 p.m.
Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts poor conditions, though, that improve later in the night with a 20% chance for good weather that slides to 60% by the end of the window. In event of a one-day delay, similar weather patterns see a 40% chance for good conditions that would improve to 70%.
The first-stage booster is flying for the seventh time and will attempt another recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic.
It’d be the 45th launch from the Space Coast this year, with all but two coming from SpaceX.
The threat of Hurricane Idalia put a hold on what would have been United Launch Alliance’s second mission of the year that was planned for Tuesday morning.
ULA opted to roll its Atlas V that was carrying a the SILENTBARKER NROL-107 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office and U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command back to the safety of ULA’s vertical integration facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“We will work with our customers and the range to confirm our next launch attempt and a new date will be provided once it is safe to launch,” ULA posted on its website.
For SpaceX, it will have to wait until Friday morning for its 61st orbital flight of the year, which would match the record it set for launches in 2022.
That flight is now targeting liftoff at 10:26 a.m. from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
That flight dubbed Tranche is the second by SpaceX for the Space Development Agency. Tranche 0 is part of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a layered network of satellites in low-Earth orbit for global military communication and missile warning, indication and tracking capabilities.
The first-stage booster is making its 13th flight and will attempt a landing at Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg.
SpaceX launches 4 astronauts from 4 nations to International Space Station
In August, SpaceX had already launched eight times including the Crew-7 launch from KSC. If i manages the Canaveral launch today, it will tie the record nine launches in one month it set in May, which surpassed the eight launches it sent up in March.
When it hits 61 launches, it would include 58 Falcon 9 rockets and three Falcon Heavy missions, but not the lone attempt SpaceX flew of its new Starship and Super Heavy from Texas, which self destructed before reaching orbit. SpaceX is gearing up for a second attempt if it can get the OK to go from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Musk said at the year’s outset that SpaceX could see as many as 100 orbital launches for the year.
