Florida
SpaceX targeting late-night weekend Falcon 9 from Cape on heels of Starship midair explosion
Weekend launch alert: SpaceX crews are targeting a 4½-hour window extending from Saturday night into Sunday morning to send up another Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, navigational warnings indicate.
SpaceX has yet to announce an exact target liftoff time. The nighttime launch window extends from 11:10 p.m. Saturday to 3:41 a.m. EST Sunday, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows.
After lifting off from Launch Complex 40 on a southeasterly trajectory, the Falcon 9 will deploy a payload of Starlink internet-beaming satellites into low-Earth orbit.
After stage separation, the rocket’s first-stage booster will target landing aboard a SpaceX drone ship out in the Atlantic Ocean about eight minutes after liftoff. So no Central Florida sonic booms should occur.
For FLORIDA TODAY Space Team mission updates, visit floridatoday.com/space starting about 90 minutes before the late-night launch window opens.
SpaceX’s last Falcon 9 booster landing was marred by mishap. After landing atop the drone ship Just Read the Instructions on March 2, the first-stage booster suffered a fire that damaged one of the landing legs — and the booster tipped over roughly 250 nautical miles off the Florida coastline.
The ruined booster returned to Port Canaveral on Wednesday afternoon.
Then Thursday evening, a failed SpaceX Starship rocket broke up into a fiery manmade meteor shower minutes after liftoff from Texas — triggering Florida airport delays in Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
SpaceX officials said “an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship” resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines, and final contact with the doomed rocket occurred about 9 minutes, 30 seconds after liftoff.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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