It’s launch day — for an evening-rush-hour liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Welcome to FLORIDA TODAY’s Space Team live coverage of tonight’s SpaceX Starlink 6-51 mission. SpaceX is targeting 5:26 p.m. EDT to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A.
This Falcon 9 will deploy another payload of 23 Starlink internet satellites, which are packed inside the fairing atop the 230-foot rocket, into low-Earth orbit.
Cape Canaveral:Is there a launch today? Upcoming rocket launch schedule for SpaceX, ULA, NASA in Florida
No Central Florida sonic booms are expected. After soaring skyward along a southeasterly trajectory, the rocket’s first-stage booster will target landing aboard a drone ship out at sea 8½ minutes after liftoff.
When SpaceX’s live webcast hosted on X (formerly Twitter) becomes available about five minutes before liftoff, it will be posted below the countdown clock.
SpaceX launch countdown timeline
Update 4:40 p.m.: Here’s a rundown of SpaceX’s upcoming behind-the-scenes countdown timeline. T-minus:
- 38 minutes: SpaceX launch director verifies “go” for propellant load.
- 35 minutes: Rocket-grade kerosene and first-stage liquid oxygen loading begins.
- 16 minutes: Second-stage liquid oxygen loading begins.
- 7 minutes: Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch.
- 1 minute: Command flight computer begins final prelaunch checks; propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins.
- 45 seconds: SpaceX launch director verifies “go” for launch.
- 3 seconds: Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start.
- 0 seconds: Liftoff.
SpaceX targeting Starlink launch Thursday
Update 4:25 p.m.: As a reminder, Federal Aviation Administration and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warnings indicate a rocket launch window will open Thursday night. More details:
- Mission: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink internet satellites.
- Launch window: 6:40 p.m. to 11:11 p.m.
- Location: Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
- Trajectory: Southeast.
- Local sonic boom: No.
- Booster landing: Drone ship out on the Atlantic Ocean.
- Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Space Force: 90% favorable launch weather
Update 4:10 p.m.: The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predicted 90% “go for launch” weather conditions at Cape Canaveral for today’s SpaceX liftoff. Thick cloud layers pose the primary meteorological risk.
“A surface ridge of high pressure extending from the central Atlantic to the Florida peninsula will remain largely in place the next several days as a series of systems pass by well to the north,” the squadron’s forecast said.
“While moisture in the lower atmosphere will be limited and shallow, variable upper-level cloudiness is expected to spill over a ridge centered across the Gulf of Mexico and make its way into Florida,” the forecast said.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and KSC, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale atRneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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