Covering All Things Florida
In the sci-fi classic “2010: The Year We Make Contact”, a manned mission headed to Europa received an ominous warning from alien monoliths, “All these worlds are yours except Europa – attempt no landing there.“NASA is very likely hoping this bit of science fiction stays that way as they prepare to launch a new mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon.
The Florida skies over the Kennedy Space Center lit up once again this morning with the 5:23 a.m. ET launch of the Polaris Dawn mission. This mission may prove to be one of the most significant yet in the realm of commercial space flight. The mission, spearheaded by SpaceX and billionaire Jared Isaacman, aims to break multiple records and test several new technologies that will advance private space exploration.
SpaceX plans to launch Polaris Dawn early tomorrow morning from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, with four astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon. Following weeks of recent weather delays and continued unsettled weather, the mission has a 40% chance of lifting off tomorrow, according to SpaceX.
Boeing Starliner has successfully returned to Earth. The touchdown was at 12:00 AM EDT when Starliner landed at White Sands Space Harbor.
Tonight, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is set to return to Earth. Whether or not it will be a safe return depends on who you ask. In one corner, we have Boeing, who publicly at least, stands 100% behind their crew capsule. In the other corner, NASA’, who is confident in Starliner, but not confident enough to risk the lives their astronauts.
SpaceX launched the Starlink 8-11 mission into hazy skies with storms looming in the distance late this morning aboard Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Update: Wednesday’s Starlink launch attempt was called off with slightly more than two minutes left in the countdown due to weather in the booster landing zone. Florida is experiencing a rather stormy week, leading to a high degree of uncertainty in the week’s launch schedule.
SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 Thursday morning from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, carrying another group of Starlink satellites. According to SpaceX, “Liftoff is targeted for 8:35 a.m. ET, with additional opportunities available until 12:31 p.m. ET.”
SpaceX got right back to business early Saturday morning as it launched the Starlink 8-10 mission aboard Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared SpaceX to resume Falcon 9 launches.
Fresh off of the announced delay of the Polaris Dawn’s 3:38AM launch Wednesday morning, SpaceX made the decision to continue with the launch of Starlink mission 8-6, slated for launch at 3:48 AM. While the launch went off without a hitch, it would not prove to be a great morning for SpaceX.
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.
