SpaceX to launch a Falcon 9 rocket; see details & Cape Canaveral launch schedule

SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on a southerly coast-hugging route on Tuesday to deliver 88 tiny satellites into polar orbit. The first stage booster of the Falcon 9 will return to Florida's Space Coast for the first time since December, landing at Cape Canaveral. Here is more about Cape Canaveral launch schedule.

Cape Canaveral launch schedule 

As mentioned on the official website of kennedyspacecenter.com, here is the SpaceX launch schedule

NORTH ATLANTIS LAWN: 

• The North Atlantis Lawn opens at 1:00 PM with the launch video feed. 

ATLANTIS SOUTH LOT: 

• The Atlantis South Lot opens at 1:30 PM with the launch video feed. 

A 58-minute launch window opens at 2:56 p.m. EDT (1856 GMT) Tuesday for the Falcon 9 rocket to launch from Cape Canaveral's pad 40. SpaceX postponed the launch from last week to complete more pre-flight inspections, but the corporation gave no further reason for the postponement. Last Tuesday, SpaceX successfully tested a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket in preparation for the Transporter 2 small satellite ridesharing mission.

There's an 80% probability of good weather for launch on Tuesday at Cape Canaveral. The Transporter 2 mission, according to SpaceX, will launch 88 tiny spacecraft into orbit for clients all around the world. Transporter 1, SpaceX's first dedicated rideshare mission, launched in January carrying 143 tiny satellites, setting a new record for the number of different spacecraft flown in a single flight.

Although the Transporter 2 mission will not surpass that record, SpaceX claims that the customer spacecraft set to launch on Tuesday have a combined mass larger than the previous rideshare mission. Small satellites for the US military, as well as radar and optical Earth observation satellites for Satellogic and ICEYE, commercial remote sensing firms located in Argentina and Finland, are among the payloads onboard Transporter 2. Several CubeSats for US and international operators are also on board the flight.

The Falcon 9 launch on Friday will be the year's 20th, although all 19 flights in 2021 have targeted landings on drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean. On the company's final mission of the year 2020, a launch for the National Reconnaissance Office on Dec. 19, SpaceX's last rocket landed at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

This year, all but one of SpaceX's rocket landing attempts were successful. On missions transporting large goods into space or flights hauling payloads to high-altitude orbits, SpaceX generally deploys Falcon 9 rockets on drone ships. On lesser payload launches, the rocket has enough propellant reserve to turn around utilising a "boost-back" burn shortly after stage separation. On Tuesday, when Transporter 2 is out, this will be the case.

IMAGE: SPACEX UNSPLASH