Launch Report: SpaceX and ESA Beat The Weather and Launch Hera

Charles Boyer

1 year ago

Ever the masters of threading the weather needle, SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 on its way to orbit and the Hera probe on its way to the Didymos binary asteroid system that was impacted by NASA’s DART probe on September 26, 2022.

Falcon 9 lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral on October 7, 2022
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville

Today’s flight was the first Falcon 9 to fly since the Crew 9 second-stage anomaly. The flight was licensed by the FAA because the second stage is not planned to reenter Earth’s atmosphere, making the question of public safety moot.

A view of SLC-40 and Falcon 9, only eight minutes apart on October 7, 2024. On the left, the rocket was barely visible from two miles away due to the rain.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville

Rain threatened to interfere with the planned launch all morning, with steady rains falling and steely gray overcast skies in the Space Coast region. With only twenty-odd minutes to liftoff, a misty drizzle fell in the region of Space Launch Complex 40. Skies lifted just in time, however, allowing SpaceX to once again beat the weather odds on a day where it looked like that was the least likely outcome.

Perhaps Jessica Jensen, Vice President, Customer Operations and Integration of SpaceX put it best when she said on X.com that “SpaceX has a motto to “never give up a day” no matter how many constraints are against us.” They didn’t, and the launch went right on schedule.

Didymos, the destination for the Hera probe, is shown in this graphic from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Credit: JOL / NASA

Liftoff and ascent appeared to be nominal throughout, with Falcon 9 entering the clouds only seconds after launching. Booster B1061 completed its 23rd and final mission successfully, and the second stage of Falcon 9 appeared to be nominal throughout. A little more than one hour and fifteen minutes after launching, SpaceX completed their portion of this mission successfully when the Hera probe was deployed.

Deployment of @ESA’s Hera confirmed pic.twitter.com/E1QiekBSB3
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 7, 2024

Launch Replay

Next Launch

NASA and SpaceX have moved the launch of Falcon Heavy and the Europa Clipper mission from October 10 to NET Saturday, October 12th at 12:19 PM due to Hurricane Milton, which is expected to pass over the Space Coast region Wednesday night going into Thursday.