SpaceX lines up late-night Sunday launch from Cape Canaveral
Published in News & Features
SpaceX looks to knock out the Space Coast’s 18th launch of 2025 late Sunday night.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites is targeting an 11:42 p.m. liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 during a launch window that runs through 3:42 a.m. More opportunities are available late Monday starting at 11:14 p.m.
Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts a 75% chance for good conditions at the launch site, citing concerns of a thick cloud layer. Conditions improve to 80% if delayed 24 hours.
This is the debut launch of the rocket’s first-stage booster, which will aim for a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic.
SpaceX has flown all but one of the missions from either Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral this year, with Blue Origin’s New Glenn responsible for the other.
The Space Force at the beginning of the year had forecast up to 156 launches from the Space Coast in 2025, an average of 13 a month. It saw 10 in January, and this would be the eighth so far in February.
SpaceX has at least one more launch planned this month, a moonbound payload for commercial company Intuitive Machines with its Athena lunar lander set to lift off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A as early as Wednesday targeting a 7:17 p.m. liftoff.
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