SpaceX gearing up for nighttime launch of OneWeb satellite mission from Florida

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX is planning to ship up a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Space Coast this weekend in a spectacular nighttime launch for OneWeb. 

The rocket will carry 40 satellites for the OneWeb Launch 16 Mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sunday, Jan. 8. Liftoff is scheduled for 11:55 p.m. ET.

This is SpaceX’s second launch for OneWeb. So far, climate is trying good for liftoff.

OneWeb is placing a whole bunch of satellites in low earth orbit for low latency broadband communications.

Following stage separation, the primary stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

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If the launch does not occur, there’s a backup alternative accessible on Monday, Jan. 9 at 11:50 p.m. ET.

This would be the second launch of the brand new yr for SpaceX. Earlier this week, the area firm kicked off its launch schedule of 2023 with a Transporter-6 mission, which can permit smaller satellites — some as small as a mailbox – to be despatched into orbit at a lower-cost possibility for non-public corporations and public establishments. 

SpaceX accomplished 61 launches in 2022, which it says almost doubled a report of 31 launches set in 2021. 

“On average, SpaceX launched every 6 days from one of our three sites with 92% of missions completed with flight-proven first stage rocket boosters, and Falcon 9 now holds the world record for most launches of a single vehicle type in a single year,” the corporate tweeted on Friday following its final launch of the yr.