SpaceX is getting ready to launch the most recent communications satellite tv for pc for KT SAT Company Ltd., a satellite tv for pc service supplier in South Korea. The Falcon 9 rocket is ready to be the primary of a possible double launch day on Monday.
Liftoff of the Koreasat-6A mission is scheduled for 12:07 p.m. EST (1707 UTC) from Launch Advanced 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy House Middle. A Starlink supply mission, postponed from Sunday, is scheduled to fly from pad 40 at neighboring Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station, 4 hours later.
Spaceflight Now could have stay protection starting about an hour previous to liftoff.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail quantity B1067 within the SpaceX fleet, will launch for a twenty third time. It beforehand supported the launches of two astronaut missions to the Worldwide House Station (Crew-3 and Crew-4), two cargo flights to the ISS (CRS-22 and CRS-25) and 12 Starlink missions.
A little bit greater than eight minutes after liftoff, B1067 is ready to landing at Touchdown Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station. If profitable, this can mark the forty seventh touchdown at LZ-1 and the 365th booster touchdown up to now.
Notably, this might additionally mark the primary time a booster lands for a twenty third time. The opposite two boosters that launched for a twenty third time, B1061 and B1062, have been taken out of service.
B1061 was deliberately expended following the launch of the Hera spacecraft on Oct. 7, 2024, for the European House Company. B1062 was misplaced when it failed to soundly land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ following the launch of the Starlink 8-6 mission on Aug. 28, 2024.
The geostationary Koreasat-6A satellite tv for pc onboard Monday’s deliberate launch is designed to switch its predecessor, Koreasat-6, which is within the 116 levels East place for KT SAT. The previous satellite tv for pc was launched by Arianespace in December 2010 and operates as a Ku-Band satellite tv for pc.
Koreasat-6A, which was manufactured by Thales Alenia House is constructed on the corporate’s Spacebus 4000B2 platform and contains six broadcast satellite tv for pc service (BSS) transponders and 20 fastened satellite tv for pc service (FSS) transponders. The three.5-metric-ton satellite tv for pc is designed to function for 15 years.
