SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite into orbit around 33 minutes later.
The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) Tuesday at the opening of a two-hour launch window.
Perched atop the rocket is the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite, a spacecraft manufactured by Space Systems/Loral to provide video, data and broadband services across the Americas, Europe and North Africa. The tri-band satellite, owned by Madrid-based Hispasat, will replace an aging telecom craft launched in 2002.
The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster will not be recovered due to unfavorable weather conditions in the Atlantic Ocean downrange from Cape Canaveral.
The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon 9 flight with Hispasat 30W-6.
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 40.
T+0:01:10: Mach 1
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound, as the nine Merlin 1D engines provide more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust.
T+0:01:18: Max Q
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
T+0:02:35: MECO
The Falcon 9’s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.
T+0:02:37: Stage 1 Separation
The Falcon 9’s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.
T+0:02:39: First Ignition of Second Stage
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for a six-minute burn to put the rocket and Hispasat 30W-6 into a preliminary parking orbit.
T+0:03:39: 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+0:08:39: SECO 1
The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket shuts down after reaching a preliminary low-altitude orbit. The upper stage and Hispasat 30W-6 begin a coast phase scheduled to last more than 18 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.
T+0:26:38: Second Ignition of Second Stage
The Falcon 9’s second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit.
T+0:27:33: SECO 2
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite in the proper orbit for deployment.
T+0:32:51: Hispasat 30W-6 Separation
The Hispasat 30W-6 satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket in a geostationary transfer orbit.
With two veteran test pilots at the controls, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane climbed to the edge of space for the first time Thursday in a major achievement for Richard Branson’s long-sought ambition to begin regular commercial hops with space tourists, and the first piloted flight by a U.S. vehicle above an altitude of 50 miles since the last space shuttle mission in 2011.
The mission is described as the second launch supporting the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) “proliferated architecture.” Liftofff from Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:14 p.m. PDT (11:14 p.m. EDT, 0314 UTC).
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will deliver the U.S. Air Force’s second GPS 3-series navigation satellite into an elliptical transfer orbit nearly two hours after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.
