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(L)A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket stands at pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center several hours before a scheduled launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and (R) A Falcon 9 rocket stands at Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40 pad ahead of launching the Starlink 6-7 mission in July 2023.
Getty (L) | SpaceX (R)
SpaceX on Thursday night may break a record that’s stood for over half a century, with back-to-back launches set to fly from Florida’s Space Coast.
The company is targeting 10:20 p.m. ET for the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Force’s Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), carrying Starlink satellites.
A couple miles away, and potentially lifting off about 45 minutes later, a Falcon Heavy rocket stands at Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, preparing to deliver the Jupiter 3 satellite for broadband provider EchoStar. SpaceX said the Falcon Heavy launch window opens at 11:04 p.m. ET and runs for 99 minutes.
Space Launch Delta 45 is the unit of the U.S. Space Force that manages the Eastern Range: A designated U.S. rocket range for launches from either Kennedy or Cape Canaveral.
SLD 45 noted in social media posts on Thursday that the pair of SpaceX launches may break a record set by the Gemini 11 mission in September 1966. That NASA mission used an Atlas-Agena D rocket and a modified Titan II rocket, which launched 1 hour, 37 minutes and 25 seconds apart.
The rockets of NASA’s Gemini 11 mission lift off on September 12, 1966. (Left: An Atlas-Agena D rocket launches from SLC-14. Right: A Titan II rocket launches from SLC-19.)
Courtesy: NASA
Falcon 9 livestream
Falcon Heavy livestream
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