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SpaceX plans to launch a German military satellite and land the returning rocket on Saturday morning (June 18). You can watch the action live.
A two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to take off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:19 a.m. EDT (1419 GMT; 7:19 a.m. local California time) on Saturday. You can watch the action here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceXor directly through the company (opens in new tab)† Coverage is expected to begin about 10 minutes before launch.
The Falcon 9’s first stage will come to Earth about nine minutes after launch for a vertical landing at Vandenberg, if all goes according to plan. The upper stage, meanwhile, will orbit SARah-1, a radar satellite to be operated by the German military, as well as a handful of rideshare spacecraft, according to EverydayAstronaut.com (opens in new tab)†
Related: The 20 Most Memorable SpaceX Missions
Saturday’s launch is the middle mission of a trifecta that SpaceX plans to operate over a 36-hour period. The company launched 53 of its Starlink internet satellites into orbit around NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida yesterday (June 17), a mission that set a new record for missile reuse† it was the 13th launch for that particular Falcon 9 first stage. (The Falcon 9 flying on Saturday has a first stage with two launches under its belt, according to EverydayAstronaut.com.)
The third launch in the rapid-fire trio is scheduled for early Sunday (June 19), when a Falcon 9 will place a communications satellite for Louisiana-based company GlobalStar. That mission will lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, which is adjacent to KSC.
The back-to-back-to-back launches continue a very busy year for SpaceX. Elon MuskThe company has already completed 24 missions in 2022, which equates to about one per week.
As all of these operational rockets get off the ground, SpaceX continues to work on its potentially transformational next-generation transport system called a massive rocket-spaceship combination. spaceship† The company is gearing up for Starship’s first orbital flight test, which could happen in the coming months now that an environmental study from the US Federal Aviation Administration is on the books.
Mike Wall is the author of “Outside (opens in new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall† follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom or on facebook†
