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Weather conditions should be excellent for SpaceX’s next launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a mission that will close out the weekend with sonic booms generated by a local booster landing.
Teams at Launch Complex 40 are looking to fly a 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket during a 20-minute window that opens at 11:45 p.m. EST Sunday, then land the booster a few miles south at Landing Zone 1. Weather during the window is expected to be 90% “go.”
“High pressure over northern Gulf Coast will dominate through the weekend, with cooler, drier air persisting,” Space Launch Delta 45 forecasters said Friday. “By late Sunday, onshore flow will slowly increase moisture resulting in a slight chance of low-topped showers off the coast, with the cumulus cloud rule as the only concern.”
Temperatures should hover around 65 degrees at 64% humidity at liftoff, making for ideal spectating conditions. Those watching will see the rocket’s 162-foot first stage touch down about eight minutes after liftoff.
As usual, sonic booms will be generated just before landing. Though startling, they are largely harmless.
Sunday night’s launch will mark SpaceX’s second mission for OneWeb, a competitor in the satellite internet industry. OneWeb was flying on Russian hardware before the war in Ukraine, after which it switched to SpaceX for launch services.
OneWeb’s internet constellation is smaller and more targeted to business users, while SpaceX’s Starlink network takes aim at a wider audience ranging from residential to military uses. OneWeb has launched about 500 of its Merritt Island-built satellites, while SpaceX stands at roughly 3,500.
For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.