SpaceX looks to make its 23rd launch of 2022 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today.
A Falcon 9 carrying the Egyptian company Nilesat’s communications satellite is set to lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 during a launch window that runs from 5:03-7:32 p.m. with a backup opportunity for launch on Thursday during the same window.
In its Tuesday forecast, Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 weather squadron predicted a 60% chance for favorable conditions with the primary concern being afternoon thunderstorms.
The first-stage booster, which has previously flown on the Axiom Space, Inspiration4 and four other missions, represents the 99th time SpaceX has reused a booster. The company, which has recovered boosters from Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets 122 times to date will try again on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
The 23 launches in 23 weeks this year far outpaces the record 31 launches in all of 2021. Elon Musk last week indicated the company is on pace for at least 52 launches, and that could include up to four launches of Falcon Heavy.
SpaceX had originally been targeting a Friday launch from Kennedy Space Center on Friday on the CRS-25 resupply mission to the International Space Station with a cargo Dragon spacecraft, but has delayed it to no earlier than June 28, according to NASA.
SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, June 8 for launch of Nilesat 301 to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The two-hour and twenty-nine-minute window opens at 5:04 p.m. ET, 21:04 UTC. A backup launch opportunity is available on Thursday, June 9 with the same window.
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