SpaceX lines up KSC launch Sunday, pushes Canaveral cargo launch to Tuesday
SpaceX is set to send up another Starlink launch from Kennedy Space Center on Sunday night while prepping for a unique cargo launch from Cape Canaveral now targeting Tuesday.
A Falcon 9 rocket is set to lift off at 6:15 p.m. from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A on a southerly trajectory carrying another 23 satellites for the growing internet constellation.
Backup launch options run through 9:55 p.m. and on Monday beginning at 5:39 p.m.
The first-stage booster is making its 18th flight including Inspiration4 and Ax-1, and will make a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
Over at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, another Falcon 9 is set to lift off carrying Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft on a resupply mission to the International Space Station on the NG-20 mission.
Originally aiming for a Monday liftoff, SpaceX and NASA pushed the flight at least one day, now targeting a 12:07 p.m. liftoff Tuesday. It marks the first time SpaceX has handled a Cygnus flight. The 19 previous missions over the last 10 years for Northrop Grumman flew on its Antares rocket from Virginia, the last of which came on Aug. 1, 2023.
The switch to SpaceX for launch services, which will handle at least the next three flights of Cygnus to the ISS, came because of issues with Russian- and Ukrainian-made rocket engines and first stage parts that are being redeveloped with Firefly Aerospace for a future Antares rocket not expected until at least 2025.
Following launch, the space station’s Canadarm2 will grapple Cygnus and the spacecraft will attach to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading by the Expedition 70 crew.