Evening SpaceX launch on tap from Cape Canaveral if weather holds
SpaceX has lined up an evening launch from Cape Canaveral on Monday, but the threat of thunderstorms could force a delay.
A Falcon 9 rocket on the mPOWER-D mission with two more communication satellites for Luxembourg-based SES is targeting liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 during a two-hour launch window that opens at 5:12 p.m. with a backup option Tuesday during the same window.
Space Launch Delta 45's weather squadron forecasts only a 50% chance of good conditions on Monday, which will decline to 25% if delayed to Tuesday.
If it does launch, it will be the sixth flight for the first-stage booster, which will attempt a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic.
The payloads are the ninth and 10th O3b mPOWER satellites built by Boeing Space for SES. They are headed to medium-Earth orbit at about 5,000 miles altitude.
This would be the 62nd launch on the Space Coast from all companies in 2025, with all but three coming from SpaceX.
Blue Origin had one with its New Glenn debut in January while United Launch Alliance has flown two Atlas V rockets as well.
ULA could fly before the end of the month with what would be its third-ever launch of the new Vulcan rocket, which has been prepping to fly its first national security mission, USSF-106, from Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41.
Blue Origin recently announced its next New Glenn launch would be for NASA's Mars-bound ESCAPADE mission, but didn't announce a target liftoff date.
SpaceX has flown 42 of its missions from Canaveral's SLC-40 and all 16 of the launches from Kennedy Space Center this year. The next KSC launch could come as early as July 31 for NASA's Crew-11 mission.
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