SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Thursday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the EchoStar 23 communications satellite into orbit 34 minutes later.
The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for launch from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:35 a.m. EDT (0535 GMT) Thursday at the opening of a 150-minute launch window.
Perched atop the rocket is the EchoStar 23 communications satellite, a spacecraft made by Space Systems/Loral, ready to beam television programming across Brazil for EchoStar Satellite Services 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 EchoStar 23. On this mission, SpaceX does not plan to attempt a recovery of the rocket’s first stage booster due to the high performance required to place the heavy EchoStar 23 spacecraft into a high-altitude orbit.
The Falcon 9 does not carry landing legs, the first SpaceX launch without landing gear since April 2015.
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 pad 39A.
T+0:01:13: Mach 1
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound, as the nine Merlin 1D engines provide more than 1.5 million pounds of thrust.
T+0:01:16: Max Q
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
T+0:02:43: MECO
The Falcon 9’s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.
T+0:02:47: Stage 1 Separation
The Falcon 9’s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.
T+0:02:55: First Ignition of Second Stage
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for a nearly 6-minute burn to put the rocket and EchoStar 23 into a preliminary parking orbit.
T+0:03:43: 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+0:08:31: SECO 1
The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket shuts down after reaching a preliminary low-altitude orbit. The upper stage and EchoStar 23 begin a coast phase scheduled to last nearly 18 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.
T+0:26:19: Second Ignition of Second Stage
The Falcon 9’s second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the EchoStar 23 communications satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit.
T+0:27:19: SECO 2
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the EchoStar 23 satellite in the proper orbit for deployment.
T+0:34:00: EchoStar 23 Separation
The EchoStar 23 satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket in a geostationary transfer orbit. SpaceX and EchoStar have not released the exact orbit targeted on tonight’s launch.
Three Russian Gonets communications satellites launched late Wednesday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, riding a Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage into orbit on the second successful Soyuz mission in less than 24 hours.
SpaceX’s first mission since a rocket explosion on a Florida launch pad is now scheduled for early January, when a Falcon 9 booster is set to begin a 70-satellite deployment for Iridium’s next-generation voice and data relay network, the company announced Wednesday.
Weather forecasters will be on the lookout for rain showers and thunderstorms during Monday’s scheduled launch of a SpaceX cargo craft to the International Space Station, but there is a 60 percent chance conditions at Cape Canaveral will permit liftoff.
