Falcon 9 lifting off in 2023. Photo: Charles Boyer, Talk of Titusville
When Space Force and NASA officials said that 2024 was likely to be the busiest year in the history of the Eastern Range, they weren’t kidding. SpaceX announced today that they are planning to launch Falcon 9 tomorrow afternoon on the Starlink 6-35 mission from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — the pad immediately adjacent to Pad SLC-41, where United Launch Alliance plans to launch the maiden voyage of Vulcan. SpaceX’s window opens at 4pm EST, while Vulcan is slated for 2:18am — ten hours and eighteen minutes later.
A Falcon 9 launching from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in 2023. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
The 2024 launch schedule kicks off today at 6:04pm from Cape Canaveral when SpaceX is planning to launch a satellite to geosynchronous orbit for Swedish telecommunications company Ovzon. Dubbed Ovzon-3, this satellite will offer mobile broadband connectivity in underserved regions and will launch aboard a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and once its job is completed, the booster will return to land at its landing zone here at the Cape. Area residents should expect a sonic boom sometime after 6:12pm, depending on their proximity to the landing site.
Launch “Jellyfish?”
Today’s launch comes shortly after local sunset, which is at 5:38pm Eastern Time, during “nautical twilight” — the period of time when the center of the sun is 6–12 degrees below the horizon.
That’s the perfect time for a true “jellyfish” event during staging: Falcon 9 will have risen above the horizon and back into the sunlight, and when the first stage of the rocket’s gasses expand in the lower pressure of the upper atmosphere, they will be brightly illuminated in the bright light above launch spectators. The same will hold true for the second stage as it fires up and weather permitting, this launch could be quite a show.
A launch “jellyfish” from 2022.
Some Good Fortune May Be Necessary for Launch Viewers
“Weather Permitting” may be a key factor regarding what launch viewers see above Space Coast skies. The National Weather service has called for mostly cloudy skies throughout the day. Technically, that means 75-87.5% of the sky is covered by with opaque (not transparent) clouds, and those clouds might diminish any jellyfish that appears during the flight sequence. On the other hand, NWS’s forecast is for the general area and covers a wide-range of time. Florida weather can and does change from moment to moment so matters are literally and figuratively up in the air in terms of what will be seen.
Delving deep into the subject, NOAA does offer more specific cloud cover forecasts and theirs is somewhat more optimistic:
The NOAA forecast for cloud cover has less cloud coverage than does the National Weather Service forecast, and seems to give us a 50/50 chance at seeing something spectacular.
45th Weather Wing Forecast
The authoritative weather forecast service for Eastern Range rocket launches is the 45th Weather Wing of the US Space Force, and their latest forecast for today’s launch is mostly positive, with only a 10% chance of a weather violation:
In their forecast, the 45th mentions that “the main weather concern remains the Thick Cloud Layers Rule as mid and high clouds increase ahead of the low.”
Either way, it’s probably a good idea to bring your camera along if you plan to view the launch.
Trajectory
The trajectory for tonight’s launch is eastward.
Booster History
According to SpaceX, “[t]his is the 10th flight of [Booster B-1076] supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-26, OneWeb Launch 16, Intelsat IS-40e, O3b mPOWER, and five Starlink missions.” Following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.”
Timelapse of SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Starlink 6-33 to orbit as seen from Titusville’s Rotary Park on December 28, 2023.
Less than three hours after SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy lifted off tonight at Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A, the company launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 carrying the Starlink 6-36 mission. Falcon Heavy lifted off at 8:07pm local time, and two hours and forty-eight minutes later, Falcon 9 roared off its pad at 11:01pm. Roughly eight and one-half minutes later, the booster used for this flight successfully touched down aboard the droneship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ near the Bahamas, marking SpaceX’s third successful booster soft-landing of the night.
Timelapse of the staging sequence of Falcon Heavy as it soared to orbit off of the Florida coast on December 28, 2023. Top right are the final moments at full power, with bottom left the separation sequence and start of the side boosters returning to Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX and the US Space Force launched Falcon Heavy carrying the USSF-52 mission from Kennedy Space Center at 8:07pm Eastern Standard Time under partly-cloudy skies and huge crowds gathered in Titusville and Cape Canaveral. After separating from the core first stage of the rocket, the two side boosters arced across the sky and returned to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station safely some eight and a half minutes later.
Timelapse of Falcon 9 Carrying Starlink 6-34 Soaring Above Space Coast Skies on December 18, 2023. Photo: Charles Boyer
After eight days of bad weather cleared from Space Coast skies, SpaceX got right back to work and sent a Falcon 9 to orbit from Pad SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Monday evening. Tonight’s payload was another 33 Starlink satellites with the mission designation Starlink 6-34.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy on the launch pad last Sunday at Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. Photo: Mark Stone / Florida Media Network
This evening, SpaceX announced the date for the next attempt to launch Falcon Heavy carrying USSF-52 / X37-B from Kennedy Space Center: December 28th. After announcing the date, SpaceX added on their website that the planned launch window extends from 7:00pm – 11:00pm that night.
They say if you don’t like the weather here in Florida, wait half an hour and it will change. SpaceX tried that this evening with the planned launch of a Falcon 9 carrying the Starlink 6-34 group of Internet connectivity satellites, but luck was not on their side: with roughly seventy seconds left in the countdown to liftoff, an abort and scrub was called by mission controllers, due to high-level ground winds.
Falcon Heavy / USSF-52 on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center December 11th. Photo courtesy: Mark Stone, Florida Media Now
If there’s one thing that’s a certainty here on the Space Coast, it’s that launch schedules can and do change often. After last night’s delay of the planned launch of Falcon Heavy for the US Space Force, SpaceX stated that the next attempt would be no earlier than tonight, Tuesday December 12th. That has now been changed to NET Wednesday, according Space Launch Delta 45 of the US Space Force and SpaceX.
Falcon Heavy rising in November, 2022. Unfortunately, technical issues halted tonight’s planned launch. Photo: Charles Boyer for Talk of Titusville
SpaceX halted the countdown of its planned Falcon Heavy Launch this evening after encountering what the company labeled a “ground side issue.” The next launch attempt will occur no earlier than Dec. 12, 2023 from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 8:14 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Timelapse of SpaceX Starlink 6-33 as seen from Rotary Park on Washington Avenue in Titusville. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX launched 23 Starlink satellites for their orbital-based Internet service Wednesday night from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The successful launch was aboard a Falcon 9 performing its ninth mission.
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