SpaceX targeting Monday rush-hour Falcon 9 launch on Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral
Update 6:06 p.m. Monday: SpaceX has pushed back tonight's target liftoff time to 7:42 p.m. Click here for FLORIDA TODAY Space Team live updates.
Original story: Rain, wind and thunderstorms scrubbed SpaceX's Friday rocket launch attempt, then held up a Saturday retry by nearly four hours before the Falcon 9 took flight. But sunny skies should prevail for the company's next mission Monday on the Space Coast.
Though SpaceX has yet to make an announcement. Federal Aviation Administration and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warnings show a 4½-hour launch window for the Starlink 6-46 mission will open Monday from 5 p.m. to 9:31 p.m. EDT.
Monday's evening-rush-hour Falcon 9 rocket liftoff will presumably occur from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Saturday's storm-delayed nighttime launch occurred from SpaceX's other Florida facility: pad 39A at NASA's neighboring Kennedy Space Center.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for mostly sunny skies Monday at the Cape, a high near 76 and east wind around 15 mph, gusting as high as 20 mph.
FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team live coverage will kick off about 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space. The Falcon 9 rocket's first-stage booster will return to Earth for a drone ship landing near the Bahamas, so no Central Florida sonic booms should occur.
Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming rocket launch schedule for SpaceX, NASA in Florida
Monday's SpaceX mission will precede Thursday's historic 16th and final launch of a Delta IV Heavy triple-core rocket. United Launch Alliance has yet to announce a target time for this NROL-70 national security mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The National Reconnaissance Office and the Space Force’s Space Systems Command are partnering on the NROL-70 classified payload.
These SpaceX and ULA missions would mark the 20th and 21st orbital launches from the Space Coast this year. The projected pace thus far during 2024 would topple last year's all-time record of 72 launches.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and KSC, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX targeting Monday rush-hour Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral