SpaceX and NASA plan to launch the PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite at 1:33 AM EST Thursday from the company’s launch facility at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral. Booster 1071 will return to the Cape and land about 5.6 miles away at Landing Zone 1 a little more than seven minutes after liftoff (T-plus 00:07:32.)
The launch has been delayed twice this week due to high winds created by an intense low-pressure system off the Florida coast in the Atlantic but it is now moving away, and winds have been steadily calming throughout the day. The 45th Weather Squadron’s Mission Execution Forecast calls for a 95% chance of acceptable conditions this morning.
A Sonic Boom Will Be Heard In The Space Coast Area
A sonic boom will accompany the landing and spread out through the Space Coast at roughly 1:41 AM EST. Remember that sound travels one mile in five seconds at sea level, so the specific time the sonic boom will arrive at your location will be relative to your distance from LZ-1.
PACE is a NASA Earth-observing satellite mission that will perform advanced observations of global ocean color, biogeochemistry, and ecology, as well as the carbon cycle, aerosols, and clouds. That data is key to identifying the scope of climate changes in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The launch trajectory is roughly due south, so areas in southern Brevard County may hear louder than normal launch rumble, and it may last longer as the flying booster passes by.
A live webcast of this mission will begin on NASA+ and NASA Television about 45 minutes before liftoff.
Axiom-3 Landing Planned for Friday Near Daytona Beach
Photo: Axiom Space
The return of the Axiom-3 crew has also been affected by windy conditions; SpaceX and Axiom Space have announced that the splashdown of the Dragon capsule should be around 7:25 AM Friday. AX-3 astronauts Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) Commander Michael López-Alegría, Pilot Walter Villadei, Mission Specialist Alper Gezeravcı, and Mission Specialist Marcus Wandt departed ISS at 9:20 AM EST today.
“We hope you had a wonderful time on station, and we’re looking forward to seeing your smiling faces,” SpaceX ground control told the astronauts as the departed ISS.
On Wednesday, February 7 at 9:20 a.m. ET, Dragon autonomously undocked from the International Space Station. After performing a series of burns to move away from the space station, Dragon will conduct multiple orbit-lowering maneuvers, jettison its trunk, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for splashdown off the coast of Florida approximately two days later on Friday, February 9.
SpaceX, retrieved 2/7/2024 1:00 PM EST
Splashdown is currently planned for near Daytona Beach. That is subject to change, however, as wave height, wind and rain in the landing area must meet NASA and SpaceX’s criteria for the safe return and retrieval of the Dragon spacecraft.
Locally, it’s somewhat unlikely that most people in Brevard County will hear the sonic boom that heralds a returning spacecraft to Earth. Residents can see Crew Dragon streaking across the sky as it re-enters by looking northwards, relatively low to the horizon.