It’s often said that we’ll truly be in the space age when rocket launches (and now landings) become so routine as to be boring. So, here’s hoping this latest SpaceX launch sends you to sleep in boredom.
Yes, for the sixth time this year, SpaceX is going to launch one of its Falcon 9 rockets today, showcasing how it is rapidly ramping up its operations. This launch, again from Cape Canaveral in Florida, will take two Boeing-built communications satellites (EUTELSAT 117 West B and ABS-2A) to orbit, just three weeks after SpaceX’s last flight took the Thaicom-8 telecommunications satellites to orbit. The 45-minute launch window opens at 10.29 am EDT (3.29 pm BST).
As always, SpaceX has provided a live webcast for you to watch all the action, which you can see below. And, as is becoming the norm now, Elon Musk’s company will also attempt to land the first stage of the rocket about nine minutes after the launch on a floating barge, following a string of recent successful landings.
Weather conditions at the moment are 80 percent favorable for a launch. Once in orbit, the two satellites will provide communications and GPS services for a host of countries across Asia, Africa, and America.
If everything goes to plan, this will be SpaceX’s 26th successful Falcon 9 launch, and its fifth successful landing. This will also match its record for flights in a single year, six, set last year, which will be eclipsed (if everything goes to plan) by SpaceX’s next launch on July 16, a Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
But who cares, right? Rocket launches are so mundane. Wake us up when we go to Mars.
The tweet above shows the twin satellites that are being launched
