aims to fly a telecom satellite into orbit from during a launch window that opens after midnight.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Intelsat Galaxy 37/Horizons-4 satellite looks to lift off from Canaveral's 40 during a two-hour window that opens at with a backup opportunity during the same window on Friday. The mission is part of Intelsat's Galaxy fleet refresh plan that provides North American coverage for its customers.
45's weather squadron forecasts a 90% chance for good conditions, and 85% in the event of a 24-hour delay.
The first-stage booster is making its sixth flight and will attempt its recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.
It's the 39 launch from the for 2023 with all but two coming from .
It follows a busy day last week when managed both a Falcon 9 launch from SLC 40 just after midnight and a Falcon Heavy launch from neighbouring 23 hours later.
The next KSC launch won't be until the Crew-7 mission now targeting no earlier than . That gives the company enough time to reconfigure the pad from the massive Falcon Heavy requirements to a crewed launch.
That will be the third US based crewed flight of the year following the launches of Crew-6 last March and the Axiom Space Ax-2 mission in May, both courtesy of Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Including launches from , the Intelsat flight will mark the year's 52nd orbital launch for , which is well on its way to breaking its 2022 record of 61 launches. It will also be the company's 251 successful orbital launch since the first Falcon 1 made it to space in 2008.
