The Eutelsat mission launched at 5:52 PM EDT on a day that Florida tourist boards dream of: a warm sunny day with light winds that brought crowds to the beaches and riverfront not only to enjoy seeing a launch but also simply enjoy the nearly perfect weather.
I made a short video of a trip to Playalinda near Titusville in March 2024 to see SpaceX launch a Falcon 9 from pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
My news article from the day: Talk of Titusville: SpaceX Completes Doubleheader
I’m a lot better photographer and writer than filmmaker, but this is what it was like that day.
I found this document online years ago and am putting it up here for posterity.
It is a PDF, read in your browser or download. Be sure to run it through a virus-checker (it’s clean) but do it anyway just to be sure.
Opening Day in Major League Baseball was just a couple of days ago, so it’s fitting in a way that the Space Coast will get its own kind of double-header tomorrow: SpaceX is planning to launch Eutelsat 36D from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center between 5:52 PM and 8:00 PM EDT, and then between 9:00 PM and 10:31 PM EDT, another batch of Internet connectivty satellites with the Starlink 6-46 mission from their pad at SLC-40 at Cape Cananveral Space Force Station.
Both missions will be aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rockets, and both will land offshore on Automated Spaceport Drone Ships (ASDS) — ‘Just Read The Instructions’ for Eutelsat, and ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’ for the Starlink Mission. Two other SpaceX boats — ‘Bob’ and ‘Doug’ are also out to sea, and they will be retrieving the fairings for each mission after they are jettisoned by the ascending rockets.
All of those vessels will then return to Port Canaveral after several days, where their cargo will be offloaded and returned to SpaceX’s facility Hangar X at Kennedy Space Center for inspection, refurbishment and potential reuse.
The boosters SpaceX is planning to use for these missions have not been disclosed by the company yet.
Eutelsat will take a nearly due East trajectory from Kennedy Space Center, flying towards an equatorial orbit.
Starlink 6-45 will take the well-trodden path as other Group 6 Starlink missions: southeastward.
According to the 45th Weather Squadron of the US Space Force, “Weather conditions will be very favorable for Saturday evening’s launch attempt.”
The 45th’s forecast for Starlink 6-45 is all but identical to their Eutelsat POV prognistication:
The Eutelsat mission may offer an intriguing possibility: it’s planned for late afternoon, NET 5:52 PM EDT, with the window going to 8:00 PM. That means there’s a possibility that Playalinda Beach out on the Cape Canaveral National Seashore will be open to spectators, that is, if KSC Security and the National Park Service allow viewers for the launch.
Generally speaking, if it is not a national-security mission (for example, a National Reconnaissance Office payload) or a NASA mission, spectators have been allowed at Playalinda. That’s by no means a certainty, however, and it would be very wise to call ahead before making the trip out.
Cape Canaveral National Seashore Phone: 386 428-3384 x0
If Playalinda is open, remember:
Also, as part of both Kennedy Space Center and the US Park system, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is under federal jurisdiction and that means if you happen to get a ticket out there, you’ll be heading to federal court. Best thing to do is strictly obey traffic laws. Don’t speed!
If you’re not planning to go to Playalinda, the best direct views of liftoff are at either at the northern Titusville parks off of US1 / Washington Avenue. the Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville, or the northern parks on US-1 in Titusville.
The ascending rocket will also be visible on Cocoa Beach, Cocoa Beach Pier, Jetty Park Pier after liftoff when Falcon 9 clears any obstructions.
The Starlink launch is from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, which means that the best direct views of liftoff are: Banana River Bridge on FL-528 W near Port Canaveral, or the southern parks on US-1 / S. Washington Avenue in Titusville. Kennedy Point Park and,Rotary Riverview Park (among others) are your best bets.
Cocoa Beach, Cocoa Beach Pier, Jetty Park Pier will have indirect views, meaning that liftoff will not be visible, but after the rocket clears the pad and any ground obstructions, you will be able to see Falcon 9 ascending clearly assuming there are no clouds between you and the rocket.
SpaceCoastLaunchCalendar.com will have a livestream of the launch if you’re not able to watch the launch in person: Livestream
After moving the planned launch time for Starlink 6-44 several times yesterday evening, SpaceX halted Falcon 9’s countdown and the launch scrubbed with just over two minutes left before liftoff. No reason was given for the delay, and the company said it will try again tonight, Thursday, March 14th.
According to SpaceX, “Liftoff is targeted for 7:04 p.m. ET, with backup opportunities available until 10:40 p.m. ET. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Friday, March 15 starting at 6:39 p.m. ET.”
Compared to yesterday, the weather is expected to improve, according to the 45th Weather Squadron: there is only a 5% Probability of Violation, meaning there is a 95% chance of acceptable weather:
For a preview of the launch, its trajectory and how to watch it, click here:
It’s often said that the third time is the charm. For Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, co-pilot Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, the third launch attempt was the one that lifted them off of Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center late Sunday evening.
Twice in previous days, adverse weather had forced mission managers to call off a launch attempt: first, on Friday due to high winds and rough seas beneath the planned ascent corridor. On Saturday, conditions hadn’t improved for a launch attempt, but by late Sunday they were acceptable and the Crew-8 liftoff and journey to the International Space Station was cleared to proceed. The reason for the weather aborts was simple, if a little counterintuitive to the average person: in the case of a launch abort, the crew would have into seas as high as 20 feet in the Atlantic.
The Department of the Air Force (along with cooperating agencies the FAA, NASA, and the U.S. Coast Guard) is undertaking environmental impact studies for launch pads for SpaceX’s heavy-lift Starship rocket according to a a recent public release from them. They are also eliciting public comments, with four meetings scheduled for March 2024.
For your convenience, here is a list of sections to this lengthy article. Click an option to jump to the part you are interested in. To return to the top, click the Back button in your browser.
NOTE: This Environmental Impact Statement is for Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and is not the EIS for the proposed usage of SLC-39A. For more information on that, click here: Notice of Environmental Impact Statement for Starship Launches From KSC’s LC-39A Filed.
The DAF has placed a new website online for information regarding a new Environmental Impact Statement for Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at https://spaceforcestarshipeis.com/. On it, they say
“The need for the Action is to ensure DAF Assured Access to Space without compromising current launch capabilities and fulfill (in part) the U.S. Congress’s grant of authority to the Secretary of Defense, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. Section 2276(a), “Commercial space launch cooperation,” that the Secretary of Defense is permitted to take action to:”
Department of the Air Force, Retrieved February 16, 2024
- “Maximize the use of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) space transportation infrastructure by the private sector in the U.S.
- “Maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of the space transportation infrastructure of the DOD.
- “Reduce the cost of services provided by the DOD related to space transportation infrastructure at launch support facilities and space recovery support facilities.
- “Encourage commercial space activities by enabling investment by covered entities in the space transportation infrastructure of the DOD.
- “Foster cooperation between the DOD and covered entities.”
Currently under development near Brownville, Texas, Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. According to SpaceX, it will be fully reusable, and capable of lifting 150 tons of payload to orbit in a reusable configuration, and 250 tons when it is configured as a conventional expendable rocket.
Current Starship designs are 397 feet tall, and 29.5 feet in diameter, producing some 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.
By comparison, the Saturn V rockets used for the Apollo Program were 362 feet tall, and produced 7.6 million pounds of thrust. By any measure, Starship is a huge rocket with immense power, and its launches and returns will be heard across the Space Coast.
Similar to how SpaceX Falcon 9 completes in many of its launches today, the Starship booster would return to land at its launch site when its task for the mission has been completed. Unlike Falcon 9, which lands at a landing area close by, Starship would return to its pad, where it would be grappled by “chopsticks” as it completed its final approach.
Starship is planned to be a fully reusable vehicle, meaning that its second stage (often simply called “the ship” in SpaceX parlance) would reenter and return to land at its launch pad using the same chopsticks as the booster.
Starship is still somewhat early in its development, with two test launches so far, and a third on the plate for the next few weeks. Along with SLS, it is a vehicle integral to Project Artemis, this time in the role of being the Human Landing System. HLS is where astronauts will land, live and work on the lunar surface, with the forward plan being for extended stays.
Unlike other rockets in the past that use highly toxic propellants, Starship relies on commonly found materials. The two propellants the power Starship’s Raptor engines are liquid oxygen and liquid methane. Methane is also known as “natural gas” and is used in many homes as stoves, heating systems and even some pool heaters here locally.
Methane combustion produces carbon dioxide and water as its byproducts. Starship utilizes a highly pure form of methane and oxygen, meaning that it does not have many other byproducts in its exhaust.
By comparison, rockets that use RP-1 as their fuel (Falcon 9, Saturn V, Atlas-V and many others) have carbon dioxide, water vapor, soot, sulfur containing compounds and small amounts of nitrogen oxide. All things considered, methane is a far cleaner fuel than RP-1.
Starship does not rely on solid rocket boosters (SLS, Atlas-V, Vulcan, Space Shuttle) SRBs typically emit aluminum oxide, soot, carbon dioxide, hydrogen chlorides, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen and other trace gases.
SpaceX began construction of a Starship launch mount adjacent to its Falcon 9 / Falcon Heavy launch pad at LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center a couple of years, but it appears that construction has been halted for the time being while the company perfects and finalizes their Starship design and along with it, the launch mount itself.
The proposed action by DAF for the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station does not address that launch mount or its future. There is a separate Environmental Impact Statement for that launch pad and Starship. That EIS is being conducted by the FAA as the lead agency, while for this one, the Department of the Air Force is the lead agency. Both EIS efforts have major stakeholders as part of the EIS team.
See also: NASA: No Activities Underway To Build LC-49 At KSC
The US Space Force is part of the Department of the Air Force, much like the US Marines are to the US Navy, as such DAF is the lead agency where Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is involved. For Starship DAF has proposed the following:
- SpaceX would modify and use SLC-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS)
- SpaceX and CCSFS would build a new pad, SLC-50, between the current SLC-37 and SLC-40
- No action, where no Starship constructions or launch occurred from CCSFS
Located nearly due east from NASA Parkway, SLC-37 currently is used by United Launch Alliance for Delta IV Heavy launches. That program has all but ended, with only one launch of the venerable heavy lifter remaining. That launch is scheduled for the March time frame when the company will loft the NROL-70 payload from the pad. After that, there are no Delta IV Heavy launches remaining.
SLC-37 is one of the older launch complexes at the Eastern Range — Construction on it started in 1959 and was used by NASA to support the Saturn I program starting in 1963. It originally had two launch pads, 37A and 37B, though 37A was never used. Saturn I launched from it from 1964-65, and the site was modified for Saturn IB launches, the most notable of which was Apollo 5. After that, in 1972, LC-37 was mothballed until 2001 when ULA began using it for Delta launches.
Given that SLC-37 has hosted launches for around sixty years, it presumably would have the least environmental impact of the two options the Space Force listed. Undoubtedly, that would have to studied and verified before SpaceX could begin construction at the facility.
Slightly north of SLC-37 is another potential location for a new pad, according to the Space Force release.
This is currently an undeveloped area of the facility, and conversion and construction of a new launch pad would require environmental impact studies to be completed prior to any construction there.
This is what it sounds like, no Starship launch pad would be built at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Given that NASA has stated that no new LC-49 pad studies or activities are underway from the Kennedy Space Center side of the Eastern Range, that leaves either the LC-39A launch mount being completed for Starship or Starship not launching from the Eastern Range at all.
The latter option — no launch pad, no Starship — would be problematic for both SpaceX and for NASA, who is relying on Starship for the Artemis program and its lunar lander. It is possible that SpaceX and NASA could reach agreement to complete the Starship Launch Mount at LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, but that comes with its own issues.
Many people may be wondering just where Starship would fly. The simple answer appears to be that it would be able to take the typical range of trajectories as other rockets that have flown or are flying from the Eastern Range today.
Notably, however, “polar” (North-South orbits) trajectories such as the ones SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has taken from to time from SLC-40 were not mentioned and we presume not in the current plans for Starship.
It is also worth noting that like Falcon 9, Starship and its boosters will return to the Cape to land, be refurbished and reused. That will bring sonic booms, just like the old Space Shuttle landings and today’s Falcon 9 RTLS missions such as Crew-8 on March 3, 2024.
From the DAF-supplied information packet:
SpaceX’s launch facility in Texas at Boca Chica has a limited acceptable set of trajectories available to it — Florida is to the East, Texas and the Gulf states are to the north, and Cuba and other land masses are to the south.
Challenges For A South Texas Spaceport.pdf – Embry Riddle Aeronautical UniversityFor test launches, Starship plans to thread a launch path over the Gulf of Mexico and then to orbit. From the Eastern Range, a much wider set of trajectories are available due to the Atlantic Ocean being mostly devoid of people or property over a much wider area.
All things considered, Starship operations from the Eastern Range and the Cape is a preferable destination for SpaceX and for NASA.
Starship launches from the Eastern Range could easily bring billions of dollars in economic activity to the Space Coast region: SpaceX launch support jobs at the Cape, along with the associated jobs that are created to support the families of those workers, and of course tourism.
As a major Starship launch port, the Space Coast would cement itself now and in the future as the starting point for space launches of all types. The area has seen boom and bust in its history, and having the most dominant commercial space company in the world using Cape Canaveral Space Force station as its main operational site would all but ensure a prosperous future for the area.
The public has been invited to have their say about the proposed alternatives:
There is also an online meeting for those that cannot attend in person:
Talk of Titusville strongly encourages interested members of the public to participate in these meetings. As the leading company for launch services in the world, much of the Space Coast’s economic future rests on this decision.
February 16, 2024
After making the announcement and holding public hearings in March, the EIS will then conduct studies and prepare a draft release of the EIS in Winter 2024. Being that there is only one winter month in December, that indicates that the draft EIS is due that month. That is not set in stone, however, so stay tuned for an announcement of specially when that date may be.
At roughly 11:00 PM EST Wednesday evening, some two hours before the planned liftoff, the countdown was halted on SpaceX’s planned Falcon 9 launch of Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 Mission to carry their Nova-C lander ‘Odysseus’ to orbit and on its way to the Moon. Launch had been planned for 12:57 AM EST on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
In a post on the X platform, SpaceX stated that the reason for the delay was “due to off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load.” Presumably that methane load was for the Nova-C lander, as Falcon 9 relies on RP-1 and liquid oxygen as its propellants and does not use methane in its operations.
SpaceX added that the next available opportunity for this launch is Thursday, February 15th at 1:05 AM EST.
Standing down from tonight’s attempt due to off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load. Now targeting Thursday, February 15 at 1:05 a.m. ET for Falcon 9’s launch of the @Int_Machines IM-1 mission from Florida.
SpaceX, February 13, 2024, 11:35 PM EST
The launch will be the second for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payloads Services program. The first was Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander which flew on the maiden launch of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket — it was launched successfully, but experienced propulsion system issues and was not able to attempt a landing. It instead re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean and burned up after completing as many experiments as possible during its ill-fated journey.
NASA, Intuitive Machines will of course be hoping for a different outcome on this mission.
Read Talk of Titusville’s IM-1 preview here: Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 Lunar Lander Set For Launch.
SpaceX, NASA and Intuitive Machines are planning to launch the NASA CLPS IM-1 lunar lander Odysseus tonight at Kennedy Space Center from Pad LC-39A at 12:57 AM EST. The launch, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, aims to be the first successful American soft-landing on the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Following the launch, the booster being used for the mission will return to land at LZ-1 in Cape Canaveral, and will herald its return with a sonic boom that will be heard across the Space Coast region.
That’s the first of two launches scheduled for Valentine’s Day. The second is USSF-124, launching from SpaceX’s pad SLC-40 Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This mission’s launch window extends from 5:30 PM until 10:00 PM EST and is also an RTLS mission.
First, the early launch, NASA CLPS/IM-1: the 45th Weather Squadron of the US Space Force is predicting a low Probability of Violation for the planned liftoff at 12:57 AM EST: only 5%. That means they are expecting a 95% chance of acceptable conditions for liftoff.
As is customary for most missions beyond Earth orbit, NASA CLPS IM-1 will take an easterly path from KSC after liftoff. People watching the launch in person should be able to see the reentry burn and if in the right place, the landing burn of Falcon 9 as it returns to land.
The weather gets even better for the second planned launch of the day, according to the 45th Weather Wing: less than a 5% Probability of Violation, meaning a 95+% chance of acceptable weather conditions at liftoff.
Also eastward. Again, in-person launch viewers should be able to see the reentry burn and if in the right place, the landing burn of Falcon 9 as it returns to land.
SpaceX has not announced which landing pad they will utilize for this launch — either LZ-2, or perhaps the Falcon 9 used for LM-1 will be removed in time for USSF-124. Either way, to launch viewers off of the base itself, the landing will be in the same general direction.
Shortly after midnight this Wednesday, the next NASA CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) lunar lander is set to begin its trip to the moon’s surface aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. Launch time is scheduled for 12:57 AM EST, from Pad LC-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The lander was built by Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based company, and is named “Odysseus.” The mission designation is IM-1. Assuming a successful flight to orbit and post-launch vehicle checkouts, IM-1 will undertake a nine-day trip to the moon, where it will then attempt to be the first successful American soft-landing on the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972.
As part of Project Artemis, in May 2019, the agency awarded a task order for scientific payload delivery to Intuitive Machines to build and fly Odysseus and IM-1. The spacecraft will “Demonstrate autonomous navigation,” according to a press release from NASA.
The landing site selected for this mission is Malapert A, a satellite crater to Malapert, a 69 km crater in the Moon’s south pole region. Named after Charles Malapert, a 17th-century Belgian astronomer, the area around the landing site is believed to be made of lunar highland material, similar to Apollo 16’s landing site in the in the Descartes Highlands.
NASA said that “the Lunar Node-1 experiment, or LN-1, is a radio beacon designed to support precise geolocation and navigation observations for landers, surface infrastructure, and astronauts, digitally confirming their positions on the Moon relative to other craft, ground stations, or rovers on the move. These radio beacons also can be used in space to help with orbital maneuvers and with guiding landers to a successful touchdown on the lunar surface.”
Odysseus will then have seven days to complete experiments on the lunar surface before the lunar night sets on the south pole of the Moon, rendering the spacecraft inoperable.
“Imagine getting verification from a lighthouse on the shore you’re approaching, rather than waiting on word from the home port you left days earlier,” said Evan Anzalone, principal investigator of LN-1 and a navigation systems engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “What we seek to deliver is a lunar network of lighthouses, offering sustainable, localized navigation assets that enable lunar craft and ground crews to quickly and accurately confirm their position instead of relying on Earth.”
Intuitive Machines was founded by CEO Steve Altemus in 2013, along with CTO Tim Crain, Stephen Altemus, and Kam Ghaffarian (a cofounder of Axiom Space) and is a publicly traded company.
Altemus is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach and holds an M.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Central Florida. He is also a former Shuttle program employee working in operations, launch, and landing activities prior to leaving to Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston where he served as a Deputy Director of Engineering.
Ghaffarian holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering, an M.Sc. in Information Management, and a PhD in Management Information Systems. He has worked for Lockheed Martin on various NASA contracts, Loral Space, and as an entrepreneur, Ghaffarian co-founded Axiom Space, IBX, X-energy, and Quantum Space in addition to Intuitive Machines. He is also a philanthropist promoting STEM education.
Crain holds a Bachelor’s, M.S. and Ph.D. in Aerospace engineering, and like Altemus is a NASA employee where he worked as an aerospace engineer, a strategic advisor and as the Guidance, Navigation and Control Lead for the Morpheus Vertical Test Bed, a prototype planetary lander capable of vertical takeoff and landing.
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