The early morning launch on Monday was the first of two on the Space Coast, with a planned booster landing that could bring a sonic boom to central Florida.
The first was the Falcon 9, a CRS-32 supply mission to the International Space Station, released by Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39-A at 4:15am.
The first stage booster recovered to landing zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, making its third flight.
The CRS-32 sent a cargo dragon spacecraft with approximately 6,700 pounds of supplies to the ISS. This includes demonstrations of sophisticated manipulation of free-floating robots, air quality monitoring systems that can be used for missions to the Moon and Mars, and two atomic clocks. This is the fifth flight of the Dragon spaceship. Docking to the ISS after a 28-hour flight targeted at 8:20am on Tuesday. The lock will not be unlocked until May.
The next launch is Falcon 9, a ride-sharing mission for multiple customers.
This is the third flight of the first phase booster, attempting a recovery landing in Canaveral’s Landing Zone 2.
“Residents of Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Indian River, Seminole, Volusia, Polk, St. Lucie and Okiechevy counties may hear one or more sonic booms while they land, but residents’ experience may depend on the weather and other circumstances.”
They marked their 30th and 31st launches this year from Space Coast, with all but one coming from SpaceX.
Although Blue Origin had the other, the United Launch Alliance is set to do the next Monday as the delayed Kuiper 1 mission Atlas V Rocket targets the launch from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 during the two-hour window between 7pm and 9pm, backing up in the same window on April 29th.
It is the first launch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper that will deliver the first satellite of the constellation into low-Earth orbit.
