SpaceX launches American spy satellite and brings back its booster for landing on Terra Pharma – TechCrunch

Updated 11:15 AM EST: SpaceX Have cleared the mission for today, and will try again during the three-hour launch window that opens at 9am EST tomorrow. The upper stage liquid oxygen tank had an unusually high pressure reading that the company would work to solve.

SpaceX Is launching Falcon 9 today from Kennedy Space Center, with a launch window that lasts for three hours and opens at 9 am EST (6 pm PST). The mission will carry a spy satellite to the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and include a recovery effort for the first-stage booster used on the Falcon 9 vehicle.

The first phase of Falcon 9 has already flown four times, including two during Of SpaceX A commercial launch mission for the International Space Station for NASA, and during a Starlink launch, as well as for SAOCOM 1B, a satellite launch operation for the Argentine Space Agency in August.

SpaceX will attempt to land back on its landing pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a rare occurrence versus its two drone landing ships being used out to sea. SpaceX’s sea launches were introduced to allow the recovery of rocket boosters that didn’t have enough fuel left on board to make it all the way back – meaning that the parameters of the NRO mission ‘return of sender’ Please allow. .

Typically, when there is a long launch window, SpaceX will aim to launch initially based on weather conditions. If this is the case today, the upstream should start at about 8:45 AM EST (15 minutes before the window opens).