SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Turkish Turksat 5A 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 during a four-hour launch window opening at 8:28 p.m. EST Thursday (0128 GMT Friday).
Perched atop the rocket is the Turksat 5A communications satellite, a spacecraft manufactured by Airbus Defense and Space in Toulouse, France, and owned by the Turkish operator Turksat.
After deployment from the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket in an elliptical transfer orbit, the Turksat 5A spacecraft will use its on-board electric thrusters to boost itself into a circular geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.
Based on Airbus’s Eurostar E3000EOR satellite design, Turksat will provide data relay and TV broadcast services for commercial customers and the Turkish government.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster set to loft the Turksat 5A payload has three previous flights to its credit. Each half of the Falcon 9’s reusable payload shroud has flown on one prior mission.
The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon 9 flight with Turksat 5A.
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+0:01:00: 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+0:01:12: Max Q
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
T+0:02:34: MECO
The Falcon 9’s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.
T+0:02:38: Stage 1 Separation
The Falcon 9’s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.
T+0:02:46: First Ignition of Second Stage
The second stage Merlin-Vacuum engine ignites for a five-and-a-half-minute burn to put the rocket and Turksat 5A spacecraft into a preliminary parking orbit.
T+0:03:37: 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+0:06:17: Stage 1 Entry Burn Begins
A subset of the first stage’s Merlin 1D engines begin an entry burn to slow down for landing. A final landing burn will occur just before touchdown.
T+0:08:02: SECO 1
The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket shuts down after reaching a preliminary low-altitude orbit. The upper stage and Turksat begin a coast phase scheduled to last nearly 19 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.
T+0:08:28: Stage 1 Landing
The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster touches down on SpaceX’s drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” in the Atlantic Ocean.
T+0:26:51: Second Ignition of Second Stage
The Falcon 9’s second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the Turksat 5A communications satellite into an elliptical transfer orbit.
T+0:28:03: SECO 2
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the Turksat 5A satellite in the proper elliptical orbit for deployment.
T+0:33:04: Anasis 2 Separation
The Turksat 5A satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket into an elliptical transfer orbit, on the way to a perch in geostationary orbit.
A Falcon 9 rocket is lifted into position for a planned countdown dress rehearsal at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The rocket is being readied for launch early Sunday with the EchoStar 23 communications satellite.
Rising into a midnight sky lit by the full moon, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral early Monday with a commercial cargo craft on the way to the International Space Station, then returned to Florida’s Space Coast for a dramatic nighttime landing.
The Trump administration is proposing to end direct government support of the International Space Station in 2025, but plans to include $150 million in NASA’s fiscal 2019 budget, to be unveiled Monday, to begin work on transitioning, if possible, to a more commercially focused outpost, according to an internal NASA review.
