SpaceX is planning to launch its next mission, SXM-8, from Cape Canaveral in Florida early Sunday morning, the organization posted on Twitter.
“Next launch will be the SXM-8 mission on Sunday, June 6; the one-hour and 59-minute window opens at 12:26 a.m. EDT,” the post read.
The launch window is currently scheduled for 12:26 a.m. ET on Sunday with a 1-hour, 59-minute window to carry it out, according to the Space.com website.
According to the article, the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket take off from the Space Launch Complex 40 and deliver a new broadband satellite, built by Maxar Technologies, for Sirius XM.
It will be the second satellite sent into orbit for the company, replacing outdated models currently in orbit, the story said.
The first stage of the rocket is planned to land on the “Just Read The Instructions” drone ship off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the Launch Execution Forecast by the United States Space Force, the launch has a 60% probability of going off with a chance for onshore showers late Saturday.
If the weather does not cooperate, there is a back up launch window on Monday with an 80% favorability factor for a launch, the story said.
The main rocket is a B1061 which has already successfully carried two manned capsules to the International Space Station before carrying the more than 15,000-pound satellite into orbit for Sirius XM.
Once operational in orbit, the satellite will send down more than 8,000 watts of broadcast content to subscribers in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean.
If successful, this will be the second launch in three days from the cape.
SpaceX launched an updated cargo Dragon rocket Thursday, delivering 7,300 pounds of research and supplies to the ISS, according to the report.
The company also put the Falcon 9 for Sunday’s launch through a static fire test of the rocket during the morning.
SpaceX is the brainchild of Tesla founder, and billionaire Elon Musk, and “has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones,” its website read.
“It is the only private company capable of returning a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit, and in 2012 its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station. And in 2020, SpaceX became the first private company to take humans there as well.”
SpaceX will also continue to retrieve the Falcon 9’s payload nose cone on Sunday’s flight, and has deployed vessels in the ocean to return it once it splashes down, the story said.
Live video of the launch will be available on the Space.com website.
Source: Newmax
