It was a typical summer’s day here on the Space Coast: at first, sunny and warm, humid with an ever-present threat of a thunderstorm lingering off in the distance.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
An hour and a half before today’s launch, while the countdown clock was ticking towards T-0, the skies made good on their threat of a thunderstorm, with plenty of lightning strikes and heavy showers near Space Launch Complex 40, where the GPS III-7 satellite, also known as SV-08, waited atop Falcon 9 for liftoff just before the end of the launch window at 1:38 PM Eastern Time.
Fortunately, there was a short gap between the first passing storm and the next one springing up on the western horizon, and SpaceX took good advantage of it as Booster B1092 fired up for its fourth mission and headed into a suddenly blue sky.
Other than the interesting weather, it was a typically normal mission for SpaceX: ascent was completely normal, with the booster reaching orbit about the same time as the second stage and payload. B1092 landed offshore on ASDS ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ safely at 8:29 a second after the company announced a nominal orbit insertion of stage 2 and GPS III-7.
Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
After additional burns of stage 2 were completed to place the payload precisely in its delivery location, GPS III-7 was deployed at T+01:29:28, marking another successful mission for SpaceX. It was the company’s 68th mission this year, and the 30th from SLC-40.
Payload
The Lockheed Martin GPS III-7 satellite is part of the next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation, delivering improved accuracy, resilience, and security to the overall system.
The GPS III series replaces older satellites to modernize the U.S. Space Force’s navigation infrastructure. GPS III-7 enhances positioning precision up to three times better than previous models and extends its lifespan to 15 years, reducing long-term costs and increasing operational reliability.
Launch Replay
Next Launch
| Mission | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 12-19 |
|---|---|
| Organization | SpaceX |
| Location | Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 |
| Pad | Space Launch Complex 40 |
| Status | To Be Confirmed |
| Status Info | Awaiting official confirmation – current date is known with some certainty. |
| Window Opens | Monday, 06/02/2025 12:57:00 AM EDT |
| Window Closes | Monday, 06/02/2025 4:57:00 AM EDT |
| Destination | Low Earth Orbit |
| Mission Description | A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project for a space-based Internet communication system. |