SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Sunday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the JCSAT 16 communications satellite into orbit 32 minutes later.
The 229-foot-tall rocket is poised for launch from Complex 40 at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT) Sunday at the opening of a 120-minute launch window.
Perched atop the rocket is the JCSAT 16 communications satellite, a spacecraft made by Space Systems/Loral, ready to beam television programming and data services across Japan and the Asia-Pacific. The rocket will place the satellite into a high-altitude geosynchronous transfer orbit.
The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon 9 flight with JCSAT 16. It does not include times for the experimental descent and landing attempt of the first stage booster on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX’s landing platform is positioned about 370 miles (600 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral for the first stage landing attempt, which is expected around 10 minutes after liftoff.
Data source: SpaceX
T-0:00:00: Liftoff
After the rocket’s nine Merlin engines pass an automated health check, hold-down clamps will release the Falcon 9 booster for liftoff from Complex 40.
T+0:01:13: Mach 1
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound.
T+0:01:18: Max Q
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
T+0:02:33: MECO
The Falcon 9’s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.
T+0:02:36: Stage 1 Separation
The Falcon 9’s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.
T+0:02:44: First Ignition of Second Stage
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for an approximately 6-minute burn to put the rocket and JCSAT 16 into a preliminary parking orbit.
T+0:03:32: Fairing Jettison
The 5.2-meter (17.1-foot) diameter payload fairing jettisons once the Falcon 9 rocket ascends through the dense lower atmosphere. The 43-foot-tall fairing is made of two clamshell-like halves composed of carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb core.
T+0:08:32: SECO 1
The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket shuts down after reaching a preliminary low-altitude orbit. The upper stage and JCSAT 16 begin a coast phase scheduled to last nearly 18 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.
T+0:26:30: Second Ignition of Second Stage
The Falcon 9’s second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the JCSAT 16 communications satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit.
T+0:27:32: SECO 2
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the JCSAT 16 satellite in the proper orbit for deployment.
T+0:32:13: JCSAT 16 Separation
The JCSAT 16 satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket in a geostationary transfer orbit. SpaceX and SKY Perfect JSAT have not released the exact orbit targeted on tonight’s launch.
SpaceX is targeting launches March 6 and March 11 for its next two missions after swapping an upper stage for its next Falcon 9 rocket with another stage already being readied for liftoff at Cape Canaveral.
The mission was scheduled to launch less than an hour before a Starlink flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Liftoff happened at 3:43 a.m. EDT (0743 UTC).
Now in the home stretch of a complex, multi-year upgrade, two space station astronauts floated outside the lab complex Thursday and pressed ahead with the third of four spacewalks the current crew is carrying out to complete the replacement of aging batteries in the station’s solar power system.
