United Launch Alliance
Hurricane Ian passed a devastating orbit through Florida this week, passing its core directly over the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral on Thursday.
By then, Ian had weakened to a moderately strong tropical storm, with most of the heavy rain falling north of the launch pads along the Atlantic coast. As a result, damage to NASA’s launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center and Space Force launch platforms at Cape Canaveral was minimal.
Accordingly, work was already underway on Friday at facilities along Florida’s “Space Coast” to conduct rapid, consecutive fire three launches within three days.
SES-20 and SES-21
First, a commercial mission on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket to launch the Luxembourg satellite operator SES-20 and SES-21 satellites. Stacked in its “531” configuration, this Atlas missile has a five-meter diameter payload, three solid rocket boosters and one Centaur engine in the upper stage.
On Friday, the United Launch Alliance said everything is in progress toward launching this mission on Tuesday, October 4, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch date is set for 17:36 EST (21:36 UTC). Favorable weather is expected, with a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions for setting off.
After launch, the Atlas V rocket will launch a pair of communications satellites into semi-circular geosynchronous orbits. Once separated, the satellites will use the onboard propulsion systems to spin their orbits 35,900 km above the equator.
Crew 5
Next up in Florida is NASA’s Crew-5 mission, which will be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station. NASA officials have confirmed that this mission is still en route to 12:00 PM EDT (4:00 PM UTC) on October 5 from Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
The crew of four — NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, astronaut Jaxa Koichi Wakata and Russian Space Agency cosmonaut Anna Kikina — have been booked at Johnson Space Center in Houston, awaiting the results of Hurricane Ian. However, they are now heading to Florida on Saturday in preparation for the launch.
Meanwhile, SpaceX will orbit a Falcon 9 rocket with its Crew Dragon spacecraft toward the launch pad on Friday or Saturday night before an ongoing test fire on Sunday. It looks like there are no significant technical issues to work on for next Wednesday’s launch.
Galaxy 33 and 34
Finally, on October 6, SpaceX is planning an additional launch. For this mission, from Space Launch Complex-40 in Cape Canaveral, a Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Galaxy 33 and 34 communications satellites from Intelsat into geosynchronous orbit. The launch date is set for 19:07 EST (23:07 UTC).
It should be noted that this first stage of the Falcon 9 booster rocket will be its 14th launch. This is the first time a SpaceX rocket has flown a purely commercial payload on or after its 10th flight. This strongly suggests that the commercial satellite market is becoming more comfortable with SpaceX’s revamp, even for widely used rockets.
Artemis I
NASA also said Friday that its Artemis I instruments survived Hurricane Ian very well because they were safely housed in the large vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center. The agency aims to have the missile ready for a launch attempt in about six weeks.
“As the teams complete their post-storm recovery operations, NASA has decided that they will focus Artemis I efforts on launching planning efforts in the launch period that begins on November 12 and ends on November 27,” NASA said in a blog post. “Over the next few days, the directors will assess the workload while it’s at the VAB and set a specific date for the next launch attempt.”
In the coming days, engineers and technicians will expand the access platforms around the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft into the Vehicle Assembly Building to conduct inspections and begin preparations for the next launch attempt, including retesting the flight termination system.
The rocket and spacecraft have been in this fully-stacked state for more than 11 months, so NASA wants to make sure all of the different batteries, stored fuel and other “limited life items” on the vehicles are still in good working order versus back on the launch pad.
“Thinker. Coffeeaholic. Award-winning gamer. Web trailblazer. Pop culture scholar. Beer guru. Food specialist.”
More Stories
Rewatch: Live 046 | 08/28/2024
Instagram now lets you add a song to your account
PlayStation Plus Essential Games Announced for September 2024