New Delhi:
SpaceX is all set to reach another milestone in its glorious journey to space. The American aerospace company is gearing up for yet another Falcon 9 launch on January 30.
The 229-foot-tall rocket carrying the GovSat 1 communications satellite will blast off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 4:25 p.m. EST (21:25 GMT) Tuesday. SpaceX has provided a 141-minute launch window for the same and Falcon 9 will be deployed in lower Earth orbit.
American aerospace company Orbital ATK manufactures the GovSat 1 communications satellite for a public private joint venture LuxGovSat.
LuxGovSat is established by SES and the government of Luxembourg. SpaceX's principal aim behind its creation is to aid defense and security missions by Luxembourg and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies across Europe Africa, the Middle East, etc.
While Falcon 9, the refused first stage booster was earlier successfully recovered by SpaceX after a May 2017 launch, this time the Falcon 9 first stage is not going to be recovered during the GovSat 1 mission.
Though the weather condition will be mostly in favour of the launch, strong wind may cause further delay in the much-awaited mission.
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Moreover, SpaceX is also making necessary arrangements for a successful Falcon Heavy launch in the first week of February 2018. After several setbacks to begin the test in the time, the space agency has previously postponed the engine fore up of the upcoming rocket.
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Earlier, on December 15, SpaceX had launched its 13th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. The launch took place from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
