Watch SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch military mission on Sunday
Update: SpaceX is now aiming to launch its first Falcon.Heavy rocket of 2023 on Sunday, January 15 at 5:56 p.m. EST (2256 GMT).
SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket is back in action Sunday (Jan. 15), and you can watch the launch live.
A falcon heavy is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida Sunday at 5:56 p.m. EST (2255 GMT), a day later than previously announced, on a classified mission for the US Space Force named USSF-67.
Watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly through the company. We will host the company’s webcast when the time comes.
Related: Why SpaceX hasn’t flown a Falcon Heavy rocket since 2019
Sunday’s launch is the fifth overall for the Falcon Heavy. The tough rocket debuted in February 2018 with a memorable test flight sent by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk‘s Tesla Roadster in orbit around the sun, with a spacesuit-clad mannequin named Starman in the driver’s seat.
The Falcon Heavy was relaunched in April 2019 and June 2019, each time sending operational satellites into the sky. But the rocket did not take off again until November last year, on the USSF-44 mission for the Space Force. According to aerospace industry analysts, the 40-month gap was primarily due to delays in getting customer payloads ready.
Like USSF-44, USSF-67 is a classified mission. However, we do know something about the upcoming flight.
The main payload is a military communications satellite called Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM 2, which will send the Falcon Heavy to geostationary orbit about 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above Earth. Also flying on Saturday is a rideshare spacecraft called Long Duration Propulsive ESPA (LDPE)-3A, a payload adapter that can accommodate up to six small satellites, according to EverydayAstronaut.com (opens in new tab).
LDPE-3A will carry five Space Force payloads on USSF-67. Among them are “two operational prototypes for enhanced situational awareness and an operational prototype crypto/interface encryption payload providing secure space-to-ground communication capabilities,” Space Force officials said in an emailed statement Friday (Jan. 13). ).
The Falcon Heavy consists of three modified SpaceX Falcon 9 first stages, which are tied together. The central booster is topped with an upper stage that can carry a load.
Falcon Heavy first stages are reusable, as are those on the Falcon 9. The two side boosters for USSF-67 launch for a second time; they also flew on USSF-44, Space Force officials said. The nuclear booster USSF-67 has never flown before.
If all goes according to plan, the two side boosters will return to Earth shortly after launch on Saturday and make vertical landings at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is located next to KSC. The central booster does not return, but crashes into the Atlantic Ocean.
USSF-67 is part of a busy week for SpaceX. The company also plans to have 51 of its star link Internet satellites to low Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 is and. 19. You can also watch that mission here on Space.com.
Mike Wall is the author of “Outside (opens in new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
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