Update for 8:30 pm ET: SpaceX is now targeting a build time of 9:15 pm EST (0215 GMT), the company announced on Twitter. The four-hour launch window closes at 12:28 am EST (0528 GMT).
Team aims at 9:15 pm EST for tonight’s Falcon 9 releaseJanuary 8, 2021
SpaceX will launch a Turkish communications satellite to Earth orbit from Florida tonight (Jan. 7), and you can watch it live here.
The Falcon 9 rocket will lift the company’s workhorse away from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in a four-hour launch window that opens at 8:28 pm EST (0128 January 8 GMT). You can watch a live webcast of the mission in the window above, courtesy of SpaceX, starting approximately 15 minutes before it is built.
About 8.5 minutes after takeoff, the rocket booster will attempt to land on one of the company’s drone vessels, titled “Just Read the Instructions,” in the Atlantic. Then about 33 minutes after construction, the high level of the rocket uses the Turksat 5A communications satellite for the Turkish Turksat satellite operator.
Full story: SpaceX will launch the Turksat 5A satellite for Turkey tonight
Related: Hundreds gather at SpaceX HQ to launch a Turkish satellite protest
Falcon 9 and Turksat 5A vertical on pad 40; a four-hour launch window tonight opens at 8:28 pm EST, and the weather is 70% favorable → https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK pic.twitter.com/jc8ix0F9IA7 January 2021
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, Jan. 7 for the launch of the Turksat 5A mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The four-hour launch window opens at 8:28 pm EST, or 01:28 UTC on January 8, and a re-entry is available on Friday, January 8, with a four-hour launch window opens at 8:28 pm. EST, or 01:28 UTC on January 9th.
Falcon 9’s first level upgrade supported the launch of GPS III Space Vehicle 03 and two Starlink missions. Following a platform separation, SpaceX will land the first stage of Falcon 9 on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be set in the Atlantic Ocean. The Falcon 9 show is also confirmed by flight: one half was previously supporting the GPS III Space Vehicle 03 mission and the other was flying aboard the ANASIS-II mission.
‘ISS Live!’ Get into the space station
Find out what the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are up to by tapping into the “ISS Live” broadcast. Hear conversations between the team and mission controllers on Earth and watch them work within the U.S. division of the orbiting lab. When the crew is not gone, you can enjoy live views of the Earth from space. You can watch and listen in the window below, courtesy of NASA.
“Live video from the International Space Station includes interior scenes while the team is on duty and scenes on Earth at other times. The video is accompanied by an audio of conversations between the team and Mission Control.This video is only available when the space station is in contact with the ground.During ‘signal loss’ periods, viewers see a blue screen.
“Because the station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, it gets a sunrise or sunset around every 45 minutes. When the station is in darkness, side camera video can outdoors black, but sometimes it gives spectacular views of lights or city lights below. ”
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