It’s Rocket Tuesday! If everything goes off there will be a launch of a Falcon 9, a Delta IV, a Soyuz, AND Blue Origin's New Shepherd. All on one day.
SpaceX will start the day, at 9:11 ET, with a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral. That flight will be delivering a next generation GPS satellite for the Air Force. But it will barely make it to orbit before it’s time to seek out the You Tube channel for Blue Origin. They’re launching the sub-orbital New Shepherd at 9:37ET from their Texas pad with a stack of NASA experiments on board.
Then there’s time to grab a snack before ArianeSpace sends up a Soyuz carrying a French recon satellite at 11:37 ET. Finally, grab a nightcap and tune in the West Coast to see a United Launch Alliance Delta IV-Heavy hefting a classified military package away from Vandenberg.
After a spectacular year in space, it seems appropriate that we finish off the year with a hardware showcase. Except that it’s really not the end. India will be sending its GSLV skyward on Wednesday, and it’s likely the year will still fit in two or three more launches after that.
And all this right after the 4th flight of Rocket Lab’s Electron and the flight of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity to 82km.
Sorry, the Blue Origin launch has been scrubbed for the day.
So they’ll be heading up tomorrow as part of an only two rocket day.
Tuesday, Dec 18, 2018 · 2:33:18 PM +00:00
·
Mark Sumner
The delay on Falcon 9 has pushed the flight past the launch window for today. So … it starts to look like Rocket Tuesday is going to happen on Wednesday, as both SpaceX and Blue Origin have been pushed back.
The Falcon 9 delay was triggered by an abort condition on board the Falcon 9, but no more details are yet available.
The launch will now be aimed at a 26-minute window beginning at 9:07 AM on Wednesday.