The U.S. military is hitching a ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy — the most powerful commercial rocket currently in operation. Here’s how you can watch the classified USSF-67 mission take to Florida’s twilight skies.
The time has come for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to make its fifth flight, with launch of the USSF-67 mission expected on Saturday, January 14 at 5:51 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Sunset will have happened about five minutes prior, providing a spectacular twilight setting for rocket watchers, whether they’re located along the southeastern U.S. coast or intently observing online.
SpaceX typically makes a live feed available a few minutes before launch, and we’re anticipating the same for this mission. We will update this page and add the link once it becomes available. In the event SpaceX does not provide live video coverage, you can still watch the launch at any of the third-party live streams provided below.
Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron is predicting an 80% chance of favourable weather for the launch, citing high winds as a potential concern. Should the launch have to be scrubbed for any reason, SpaceX will try again on Sunday. The rocket’s two side boosters will attempt vertical landings at Kennedy’s Landing Zone 1 and 2, while the central core will not be recovered.
USSF-67 is SpaceX’s second national security launch, the first being USSF-44, which blasted off on November 1, 2022 atop a Falcon Heavy. SpaceX provided a live feed for that launch but ended the broadcast early at the request of the Space Force. History will likely repeat itself for this launch, as the newest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces would prefer that we not catch a glimpse of its classified payload.
More on this story: Falcon Heavy Rocket Readied for SpaceX’s Second Space Force Mission
That payload, according to Kennedy Space Centre, is Space Force’s second Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM, a communications satellite otherwise known as CBAS 2. The Falcon Rocket will also attempt to deliver several unspecified satellites hitching a ride to geosynchronous orbit. The ESPA 3A payload adaptor will assist in this task, carrying and delivering the rideshare payloads to their respective destinations some 22,250 miles (35,800 kilometers) above the surface.
Saturday’s anticipated launch will mark the fifth flight of the 70.10 m-tall (70-metre) Falcon Heavy, which produces over 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. SpaceX will put the rocket to good use in 2023, with four more launches expected in the coming year, including the launch of NASA’s Psyche probe in October.
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