ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 19 (UPI) – SpaceX plans another attempt to launch the company’s second spy satellite mission for the U.S. government on Saturday morning.
The Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to build through a three-hour launch window starting at 9 a.m. EST from Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The U.S. Space Force predicts just a 10% chance that clouds could be delayed or delayed.
SpaceX shortened an effort previously launched Thursday due to a slightly weighted reading in a high-level smelting oxygen tank on the rocket. The countdown stopped at 1 minute, 53 seconds before launch.
Andy Tran, production director of SpaceX avionics, said at a live broadcast Thursday that the rocket and payload were in good condition despite the downside.
As part of the announcement, the company Elon Musk plans to land the first stage launch of the rocket on a landing pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, about 10 miles south of the launch site.
The landing could trigger a sonic surge in Central Florida, according to the company.
The first U.S. spy satellite, NROL-76, was launched in May 2017 for the National Audit Office, which is part of the Department of Defense. Most such missions were carried out a few years ago by the United Launch Alliance.
The government says very little about classified missions such as their launch on Sunday, except that the rocket carries “national security payloads designed, built and operated by the agency. … to provide intelligence data to key U.S. policymakers, agency intelligence and the defense sector. “
The mission of the National Exhibition Office is to provide information for information requirements, research and development, and to assist in emergency and disaster relief.