SpaceX lined up an evening launch from Cape Canaveral on Monday, but the thunderstorm threat could force a delay.
The Falcon 9 rocket on the Luxembourg-based MPOWER-D mission, featuring two communications satellites for SES, opens at 5:12pm on Tuesday and is targeting a lift-off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with a two-hour launch window that opens with a backup option during the same window.
The Space Launch Delta 45 weather squadron predicts a 50% chance of good condition on Monday.
If launched, it is the sixth flight of the first phase booster, attempting to recover landing downrange for the droneship.
The payload is the ninth and tenth O3B Mpower satellites built by Boeing Space for SES. They head into Earth orbit, at about 5,000 miles altitude.
This was the 62nd launch at Space Coast in 2025 from all businesses, with all but three coming from SpaceX.
Blue Origin had one new debut for Glenn in January, but the United Launch Alliance also flew two Atlas V Rockets.
The ULA is the third launch of the new Vulcan Rocket, which is preparing to fly the USSF-106, the first national security mission from the Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41, and was able to fly by the end of the month.
Blue Origin recently announced the next new Glen launch for NASA’s Mars-bound Escaper Dominance mission, but did not announce a target lift-off date.
SpaceX flew 42 missions this year from Canaveral’s SLC-40 and 16 launches from the Kennedy Space Center. The next KSC launch could arrive early on July 31st of NASA’s Crew 11 mission.
