SpaceX launches from KSC on Sunday with Canaveral launch set for Monday
SpaceX executed a Sunday evening launch from Kennedy Space Center with a Monday launch attempt from Cape Canaveral on tap.
First up was a Falcon 9 rocket from KSC's Launch Pad 39-A on the Optux X/TD7 mission to launch a geostationary communication satellite built by Northrop Grumman for the Australian company Optus at 5:28 p.m. ET.
This was the 16th mission for the first-stage booster, which was used on Crew-5, CRS-28 and NG-20 among other missions, making another recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
Next up on the Space Coast is a Monday afternoon launch of a Falcon 9 on the GSAT-20 mission to send a communication satellite for the Indian Space Research Organization to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 during launch window from 1:31–3:20 p.m. and backup on Tuesday during a two-hour window that opens at 4:33 a.m.
Space Launch Delta 45's weather squadron forecasts better than 95% chances for launch on Monday.
The first-stage booster for the mission is flying for the 19th time with a recovery landing downrange planned on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was the 80th and Monday's would be the 81st launch from the Space Coast in 2024, with all but five coming from SpaceX.
SpaceX also has a Starlink launch at 12:47 a.m. Tuesday from California and the much anticipated sixth launch of its in-development Starship and Super Heavy on Tuesday during a 30-minute launch window that opens at 5 p.m. from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.
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