People watch as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on February 27, 2023 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX prepares for another Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral this week. It is anticipated that the Starlink 6-19 mission, which will deploy more of the company's internet-beaming satellites, will launch on Thursday night.
Launch Complex 40 is expected to launch the 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket between 6:53 and 11:24 p.m. EDT, according to navigational warnings. The National Weather Service has issued a forecast for Thursday that indicates there is a 90% probability of showers and possibly thunderstorms in the area surrounding the spaceport, according to Florida Today. Lightning is possible during the launch window, though the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron has not projected it.
The 130-foot first-stage rocket booster will direct the stack of Starlink satellites toward a drone ship landing in the Atlantic Ocean close to the Bahamas after sending them on a southeasterly course.
Starlink, SpaceX's global internet service, has served every continent and many clients with over 5,100 satellites since 2019. The launch would be Florida's 52nd of the year.
U.S. Government Shutdown's Impact on Space Program
Moreover, SpaceX teams will launch a Falcon Heavy rocket near Kennedy Space Center in the first week of October. This mission will carry NASA's Psyche spacecraft to study a metal-rich asteroid midway between Mars and Jupiter. If the government shuts down this weekend, the mission's status and launch date may be affected. The White House Office of Management and Budget has not yet responded to NASA's queries regarding this issue.
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Notably, the Psyche mission marks the first dedicated payload for NASA on a triple-core Falcon Heavy rocket. Before this launch, private satellites supported the U.S. Space Force's national security activities.
The interplanetary Psyche mission will launch from pad 39A at 10:34 a.m. on Thursday, October 5. EDT.
SpaceX Continues to Make History
On September 1, a total of 22 new Starlink Internet satellites were successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. UPI reported that these satellites are a component of SpaceX's constellation, created to make internet connections possible anywhere on Earth. The launch's Falcon 9 rocket safely descended to Earth and touched down on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic.
In other news, The Smithsonian has also acquired a SpaceX rocket engine that an Israeli company had previously used to try to land on the moon. SpaceX gave this Merlin engine and a grid fin to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, as per a report from Space.com. These relics will be shown in an exhibition that examines the potential of space travel.
In 2018, the Merlin engine flew on two Falcon 9 rockets to launch commercial communications satellites and an Argentinian Earth-observation satellite, landing on the U.S. West Coast instead of an ocean-going droneship.
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