(Update: SpaceX has delayed this launch to no earlier than 11:46 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26.)
After a week without a rumble, SpaceX is set to launch its next Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral — and it isn’t a Starlink mission.
Now no earlier than 11:46 p.m. Monday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Lockheed Martin-built GPS satellite to medium-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The satellite is the ninth in a series of next-generation Space Force GPS satellites.
The launch was originally scheduled for Sunday night, but was delayed for undisclosed reasons.
It’s worth staying up late for this rocket launch as SpaceX only has a 15-minute period during which it can launch the satellite.
Should the mission take off Monday night, it will mark more than one week between rocket launches. While Florida is used to seeing more than one launch per week, SpaceX is currently limited to launching from Launch Complex 40 as it works to finalize the Starship launch pad at Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Experience, changing rockets, and having the necessary equipment ready allowed the launch teams to process and integrate the GPS III (SV09) satellite with the Falcon 9 rocket on a shorter timeline than previously.
“For this launch, we traded a GPS III mission from a Vulcan to a Falcon 9, then exchanged a later GPS IIIF mission from a Falcon Heavy to a Vulcan,” USSF Col. Ryan Hiserote, SYD 80 Commander and NSSL program manager is quoted as saying in a Jan. 22 press release. “Our commitment to keeping things flexible – programmatically and contractually – means that we can pivot when necessary to changing circumstances. We have a proven ability to adapt the launch manifest to complex and dynamic factors and are continuing to shorten our timelines for delivering critical capabilities to warfighters.”
Fitting for this time of the year, the spacecraft is named in honor of Col. Ellison Onizuka, who lost his life during the Jan. 28, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
There will be no Brevard sonic booms from Monday night’s launch, as the first stage will target landing on the Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The FLORIDA TODAY Space Team will provide live updates beginning 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.