Covering All Things Florida
SpaceX is planning to launch a Falcon 9 carrying a Turkish telecommunications satellite later Monday afternoon from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, weather permitting. The launch window opens at 05:20 PM EDT and extends over four hours to 09:43 PM EDT Monday.
The upcoming Polaris Dawn mission is poised to make history as the first commercial spaceflight to include a spacewalk. Billionaire Jared Isaacman is funding the mission, which is scheduled to launch no earlier than July 31, 2024, from Florida’s Space Coast.
Royal Caribbean has started promoting the arrival of the world’s second-largest cruise ship, Utopia of the Seas, to its new home in Port Canaveral. It all kicks off with an online contest for fans of pop singer Meghan Trainor to join her and a small group of other fans on the ship’s initial cruise before it enters into regular service later this month.
Those who plan to cruise over the 4th of July holiday weekend and into next week might not get what they signed up for. Hurricane Beryl, the first major storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, has wreaked havoc on Florida-based cruise lines, forcing significant itinerary changes and posing operational challenges.
SpaceX successfully launched another group of Starlink satellites into orbit this morning from its Space Launch Complex 40 facility to open the second half of the year. Liftoff was at 4:55 AM EDT.
SpaceX plans to add more satellites to their Starlink constellation in the wee hours Wednesday morning with the Starlink 8-9 mission set to depart Space Launch Complex 40. Liftoff is currently targeted for 02:57 AM EDT with a launch window extending to 06:01:00 AM EDT the same day. If weather or technical reasons cause a scrub, an additional opportunities are also available on Sunday, July 7 starting at 12:28 AM EDT.
The booster used for the mission is Booster B1073, the same one that experienced an abort-at-ignition on its last launch attempt. After completing its boost cycle, B1073 on the company’s automated landing barge ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’ which is stationed at sea in the Atlantic Ocean offshore of the Carolinas. Since the booster will not be returning to the launch site, there will be no sonic booms on the Space Coast.
A Florida man has been arrested and charged after allegedly shooting down a Walmart delivery drone. The incident occurred in Clermont, a city approximately 25 miles west of Orlando.
The Florida Legislature has officially designated the iconic Florida A1A highway as the “Jimmy Buffett Highway.” The coastal highway runs from Key West to the Georgia border. This decision honors the legendary singer-songwriter, whose music has long embodied the laid-back, coastal lifestyle cherished by Floridians and visitors alike.
Kennedy Space Center, Florida — SpaceX’s ambitious plans to repurpose Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center for its Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle program have sparked a wide array of concerns from various public and private stakeholders.
Though they are often taken for granted, spacesuits are a vital part of US space efforts, both now with the International Space Station, and also later, when astronauts from Project Artemis undertake their EVA duties on the lunar surface. Without spacesuits, many of the necessary maintenance and upgrade duties on ISS cannot be performed, and obviously, without spacesuits, no one will be walking on the moon.
The U.S. Space Command has confirmed the breakup of the decommissioned Russian satellite RESURS-P1. The satellite disintegrated into over 100 trackable pieces of debris on June 26, 2024, at approximately 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time (1600 UTC). This event added to the growing mass of space junk orbiting Earth and forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to take cover.
The day is coming, sooner rather than later, when the ISS will have outlived its design life. NASA sees it coming and has already started the wheels turning to send the multi-national behemoth to a fiery end.
