Nov. 15 (UPI) — SpaceX engineers are preparing to launch another communications satellite, this time for the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar.
After several months of late night and early morning launches, Florida’s Space Coast is finally getting a daytime blastoff. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. The launch window opens at 3:46 p.m. ET.
The launch will be live streamed on SpaceX’s webcast page. Live coverage will begin 15 minutes prior to liftoff.
If all goes as planned, the rocket will carry Qatar’s Es’hail-2 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The satellite will use its own power to achieve a geostationary orbit.
“The satellite will be deployed to a geostationary transfer orbit, GTO, approximately 32 minutes after liftoff,” SpaceX announced on its website.
The forecast for Florida’s Space Coast is cloudy with a chance of isolated showers, but Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 60 percent chance of favorable launch conditions.
As its name implies, the satellite is the second Es’hail craft to launch, but it is the first dedicated exclusively to Qatari communications. Es’hail-1 was a joint mission, and its services are shared by Es’hailSat and French telecommunications operator Eutelsat.
Thursday’s launch will be SpaceX’s 18th mission in 2018. And, as usual, the space company will attempt to land the Falcon 9’s first stage on SpaceX’s autonomous drone ship, named Of Course I Still Love You.
The rocket being used for Thursday’s launch is powered by a previously used rocket booster. In July, the booster helped carry the Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite into space.
SpaceX won’t attempt to recover any of the payload fairing, the structure that protects the mission payload.
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