Launch recap: Scroll down to rewatch live coverage of the Tuesday, April 23 liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral that marked the 300th landing of the Falcon booster.
Welcome to FLORIDA TODAY’s Space Team’s live coverage of tonight’s SpaceX Starlink 6-53 mission from the Cape Canaveral space station.
SpaceX officials postponed the mission’s initial launch window Monday evening due to poor weather forecasts. Now, SpaceX is targeting 6:17 p.m. EDT to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral space station.
The Falcon 9 will deploy another batch of 23 Starlink internet satellites, which are packed inside the fairing atop the 230-foot rocket.
No sonic booms in central Florida are expected during this Starlink 6-53 mission. After soaring into the sky along a southeastward trajectory, the rocket’s first stage booster will aim for landing aboard a drone ship at sea 8 and a half minutes after liftoff.
Cape Canaveral:Is there a launch today? Upcoming rocket launch schedule for SpaceX, ULA and NASA in Florida
SpaceX Falcon 9 booster lands
Updated at 6:25 p.m.: The Falcon 9 first stage booster just landed aboard SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions drone on the Atlantic Ocean, completing its ninth mission.
Lift-off!
Updated at 6:17 p.m.: SpaceX just launched the Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral space station.
SpaceX launch webcast begins
Updated at 6:12 p.m.: The SpaceX launch webcast hosted on X (formerly Twitter) is now posted above, just below the countdown.
Liftoff is scheduled in five minutes from the Cape Canaveral space station.
SpaceX booster will land on a drone
Updated at 6:04 p.m.: Tonight’s mission marks the ninth flight of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, SpaceX reported.
The previously launched booster Crew-6, SES O3b mPOWER, USSF-124 and five Starlink missions.
After stage separation, crews expect the booster to land on the Just Read the Instructions drone on the Atlantic Ocean 8 minutes and 31 seconds after takeoff.
SpaceX: Systems and weather look good
Updated at 5:56 p.m.: “All systems and weather are looking good for today’s launch from Florida,” SpaceX officials announced in a tweet.
SpaceX launch preparation underway in Brevard
Updated at 5:50 p.m.: Brevard County emergency management officials have activated the agency’s Launch Operations Support Team ahead of SpaceX’s upcoming Falcon 9 launch.
SpaceX Falcon 9 refueling underway
Updated at 5:43 p.m.: Falcon 9 refueling procedures are currently underway at Launch Complex 40, SpaceX has just announced.
This means that tonight’s Starlink countdown is now locked to take off at 6:17 p.m. without any delays, otherwise the launch must be postponed.
SpaceX Launch Countdown Timeline
Updated at 5:29 p.m.: Here’s a look at SpaceX’s behind-the-scenes countdown timeline. T-minus:
- 38 minutes: SpaceX launch director checks the “go” for the propellant charge.
- 35 minutes: Loading of rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen from the first stage begins.
- 16 minutes: Liquid oxygen loading of the second stage begins.
- 7 minutes: Falcon 9 begins engine cooling before launch.
- 1 minute: The command flight computer begins final checks before launch; pressurization of the propellant tank to flight pressure begins.
- 45 seconds: SpaceX launch director checks “good” for launch.
- 3 seconds: The engine controller controls the start of the engine ignition sequence.
- 0 seconds: Lift-off.
SpaceX aims for double weekend launch schedule
Updated at 5:15 p.m.: SpaceX is targeting back-to-back rocket launch attempts Saturday and Sunday from the Space Coast, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency shipping warnings indicate.
SpaceX has not yet announced these missions. But on Saturday evening, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket could launch Galileo satellites for the European Space Agency’s Global Navigation System between 8:29 p.m. and 9:11 p.m.
Then on Sunday, another Starlink launch window will open from 5:50 p.m. to 10:21 p.m.
Space Force: over 95% chance of good weather
Updated at 4:54 p.m.: The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron estimated tonight’s chance of weather being favorable for launch is greater than 95 percent.
“High pressure drops rapidly across the southeastern United States overnight (Monday), centering just offshore northeast Florida on Tuesday. Proximity to the high center will keep the east-northeast flow light is within the launch window Tuesday evening, but will also allow a low current, mixed stratocumulus-cumulus bridge to broadcast ashore,” the squadron’s forecast states.
“These are not expected to pose a weather problem at launch, as their height will be limited by drier conditions aloft,” the forecast says.
For the latest news and launch schedule for the Cape Canaveral Space Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a space reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of her stories, Click here.) Contact Neale at[email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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