A SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral on Monday. It will be carrying a Japanese and Singaporean communications satellite (built by Boeing for two cooperating Asian telecommunications providers) eventually bound for geosynchronous orbit. It's a very heavy satellite, 6 tons, and firing it into geostationary orbit would have made recovery of the booster impossible. But it apparently isn't going to be launched into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit GTO. It will go into a lower orbit and then the payload will use its own propulsion system to raise itself into the desired orbit. So they will be trying to recover the booster. It won't have enough fuel left to return to Cape Canaveral but will try to land downrange on OCISLY.
The booster will be good old reliable veteran B 1056.2 with two flights already on its resume, both supply flights to the Space Station.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1205556646656692225
Launch time: Dec 16, 2019 7:10 PM EST, 4:10 PM PST (00:10 UTC on the 17th)
https://everydayastronaut.com/prelaunch-...kacific-1/
SpaceX conducted a static test fire yesterday and B1056 successfully passed. (Third time, it already knows the drill.)
https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/statu...6040504321
Information on the payload on Gunter's extraordinary satellite website here
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/jcsa...ific-1.htm
OCISLY left Port Canaveral under tow by tug Hawk Thursday, accompanied by support ship Go Quest. They will be trying to recover the fairings as well and both catcher's mitt ships, Ms Tree and Ms. Chief have put to sea. Recent positions as of today --
https://twitter.com/SpaceXFleet/status/1...3717084166
SpaceX will have a stream, as will Tim Dodd
SpaceX's should be on their website
http://www.spacex.com
Tim's
https://www.youtube.com/everydayastronaut/live
According to Tim this will be the 77th flight of a Falcon 9, and if B 1056 makes it back alive, it will be the 47th recovery of a Falcon 9. (Many of the earliest ones weren't recovered.) This will be SpaceX's 13th Falcon 9 launch of 2019. (They are busy little bees, even if you don't count all the science-fiction-movie craziness in Boca.) The Crew-Dragon Inflight Abort should be coming on January 4 too.
And to inject a bit of diversity and intrigue, just to keep things exciting, Boeing should be flying its own Starliner unmanned test flight to the Space Station on this coming Friday, Dec 20th.
The booster will be good old reliable veteran B 1056.2 with two flights already on its resume, both supply flights to the Space Station.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1205556646656692225
Launch time: Dec 16, 2019 7:10 PM EST, 4:10 PM PST (00:10 UTC on the 17th)
https://everydayastronaut.com/prelaunch-...kacific-1/
SpaceX conducted a static test fire yesterday and B1056 successfully passed. (Third time, it already knows the drill.)
https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/statu...6040504321
Information on the payload on Gunter's extraordinary satellite website here
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/jcsa...ific-1.htm
OCISLY left Port Canaveral under tow by tug Hawk Thursday, accompanied by support ship Go Quest. They will be trying to recover the fairings as well and both catcher's mitt ships, Ms Tree and Ms. Chief have put to sea. Recent positions as of today --
https://twitter.com/SpaceXFleet/status/1...3717084166
SpaceX will have a stream, as will Tim Dodd
SpaceX's should be on their website
http://www.spacex.com
Tim's
https://www.youtube.com/everydayastronaut/live
According to Tim this will be the 77th flight of a Falcon 9, and if B 1056 makes it back alive, it will be the 47th recovery of a Falcon 9. (Many of the earliest ones weren't recovered.) This will be SpaceX's 13th Falcon 9 launch of 2019. (They are busy little bees, even if you don't count all the science-fiction-movie craziness in Boca.) The Crew-Dragon Inflight Abort should be coming on January 4 too.
And to inject a bit of diversity and intrigue, just to keep things exciting, Boeing should be flying its own Starliner unmanned test flight to the Space Station on this coming Friday, Dec 20th.