Covering All Things Florida
SpaceX has called off the Polaris Dawn launch of Falcon 9 until at least Friday, August 29th. The company announced shortly after 10 PM EDT that it was standing down for the night, and stated on its website that the next launch attempt would be no earlier than the end of the week.
SpaceX plans to launch Polaris Dawn early tomorrow morning from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, with four astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon.
SpaceX launched another tranche of Starlink satellites to orbit this morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.
SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket today at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, carrying the WorldView Legion 3 and 4 satellites into orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, delivering the WorldView Legion 3 and 4 satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit. These satellites, developed by Maxar Technologies, are part of a next-generation constellation designed to provide high-resolution Earth imagery. The WorldView Legion satellites are expected to significantly enhance the ability to capture detailed images of the Earth’s surface, with applications ranging from environmental monitoring and agriculture to defense and intelligence.
On August 15, 2024, SpaceX is set to launch the WorldView Legion 3 and 4 satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This mission will expand Maxar Technologies’ Earth observation capabilities, which include national security, disaster response, and commercial mapping.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying another group of Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center this morning in the predawn hours. Liftoff was at 06:37 AM EDT from Launch Complex 39A.
Cape Canaveral, FL – August 4, 2024 — Northrop Grumman’s 21st Cygnus resupply mission, NG-21, began its journey to the International Space Station (ISS) on August 4, 2024, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, suffered a delay of about 24 hours caused by adverse weather conditions from Tropical Storm Debby as it moved up the Florida peninsula. Cygnus is part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Service (CRS), responsible for maintaining the vital flow of supplies and scientific experiments to the ISS.
Cape Canaveral, FL – August 4, 2024 — The Cygnus NG-21 mission, launched earlier today from Cape Canaveral, has encountered some unexpected challenges. According to a tweet on “X” by William Harwood:
“Mission control just alerted the ISS crew to a possible issue with the Cygnus cargo ship: “Just to let you guys know, good comm with Cygnus, we’re going to have solar array deploy in about an hour. The first two burns were not performed by Cygnus, so they are reassessing what is the current state of the burn plan. We’re hoping to still keep Tuesday (for capture by ISS), but we’ll re-assess once we figure out what went wrong with the first two burns.”
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus CRS-2 NG-21 (S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee) to orbit this morning from Cape Canaveral. Liftoff was at 11:02 AM EDT under variable skies that showed a strong chance of storms coming in shortly afterwards.
A wave of thunderstorms passed through the Cape Canaveral area around 90 minutes before liftoff Saturday, forcing SpaceX to stand down from its launch attempt today.
The company said in a latter post on X.com that they would try again tomorrow, but with a 90% Probability of Violation and an approaching tropical system off of Florida’s west coast, the chances of that don’t seem very high. Monday’s forecast is equally squirrelly as the system is forecast to arc through northern Florida, creating storm squalls and windy conditions across the state.
On the other hand, it’s Florida and the weather here can be unpredictable. So, we’ll see when SpaceX can get this launch off of the pad.
The International Space Station (ISS) is an island of international cooperation and scientific research. As of July 2024, the ISS has been hosting a variety of spacecraft, including the Boeing Starliner, SpaceX Dragon Endeavour, Soyuz MS-25, and the Russian Progress 87 and 88 resupply ships. The current mix of 5 vehicles and 12 astronauts ensures that the ISS is a bustling beehive of activity, supporting a diverse range of scientific experiments and international visitors. But soon, in the days and weeks to come two more spacecraft and four more astronauts will join the activities.
Cape Canaveral, FL – After a brief grounding by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket and deployed its Starlink Group 10-9 satellites early in the morning on July 28, 2024. This launch marked the company’s return to flight status following an anomaly during a mission earlier in the month.
