Florida’s Space Coast on course for Ian, scheduled for 3 launches in 3 days

Hurricane Ian carved a devastating swath through Florida this week, and its core passed directly over the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral on Thursday.

By then, however, Ian had weakened to a moderately strong tropical storm, with most of its heaviest rainfall occurring north of the launch pads along the Atlantic coast. As a result, damage to NASA’s launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center and the Space Force launch pads at Cape Canaveral was minimal.

Accordingly, as of Friday, work was already underway on facilities along Florida’s “Space Coast” for a rapid-fire sequence of three launches in three days.

SES-20 and SES-21

It begins with a commercial mission using the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket to launch the SES-20 and SES-21 satellites for Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES. Stacked in its “531” configuration, this Atlas rocket features a five meter diameter payload fairing, three solid rocket boosters and a motor on the Centaur upper stage.

On Friday, the United Launch Alliance said everything is moving forward toward the launch of this mission on Tuesday, October 4 from Space Launch Complex-41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch is scheduled for 5:36 p.m. EST (21:36 UTC). The weather is forecast to be favorable with a 70 percent chance of favorable launch conditions.

After launch, the Atlas V rocket will place the communications satellite pair in near-circular, near-geosynchronous orbits. After separation, the satellites will use onboard propulsion systems to circle their orbits at an altitude of 35,900 km above the equator.

crew-5

Up next in Florida is NASA’s Crew 5 mission, which will launch a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station. NASA officials confirmed that this mission remains on schedule for October 5 at noon EST (16:00 UTC) from Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center.

The crew of four — NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina — were staying at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to await the outcome of Hurricane Ian . However, they will now fly to Florida on Saturday in preparation for launch.

SpaceX, meanwhile, will roll its Falcon 9 rocket to the launch pad with the Crew Dragon spacecraft on Friday night or Saturday ahead of a static fire test on Sunday. There don’t seem to be any major technical issues to work on ahead of next Wednesday’s launch.

Galaxy 33 & 34

Finally, SpaceX is planning another launch on October 6th. For this mission, a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral will place Intelsat’s Galaxy 33 and 34 telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit. Launch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. EST (23:07 UTC).

Notable for this mission is that this first stage Falcon 9 booster will make its 14th launch. This is the first time a SpaceX rocket has flown a purely commercial payload on its 10th flight or later. This strongly suggests that the commercial satellite market is becoming increasingly comfortable with SpaceX’s overhaul process, even for well-used rockets.

Artemis I

NASA also said Friday that its Artemis I hardware survived Hurricane Ian safely, tucked away in the large Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. The agency aims to have the rocket ready for a launch attempt in about six weeks.

“As teams complete post-storm recovery operations, NASA has decided to focus Artemis I planning efforts on the launch period beginning November 12 and ending November 27,” NASA said in a blog post. “In the coming days, managers will assess the scope of work to be carried out during the VAB and set a specific date for the next launch attempt.”

In the coming days, engineers and technicians will expand access platforms around the space launch system rocket and the Orion spacecraft inside the vehicle assembly building to conduct inspections and begin preparations for the next launch attempt, including re-testing the flight termination system.

The rocket and spacecraft have been in this fully stacked state for more than 11 months, so NASA wants to make sure all of the various batteries, stored propellants, and other “life-limited items” in the vehicles are still in good condition before returning to the launchpad roll out