SpaceX to launch Türksat 6A communications satellite Monday afternoon from Cape Canaveral
Editor's note: SpaceX announced the target time is 7:30 p.m. Monday, and the mission's launch window will last roughly two additional hours.
Original story: After bouncing around the range schedule a bit, SpaceX's upcoming launch of the Türksat 6A communications satellite is targeted for a Monday afternoon liftoff, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows.
Though SpaceX has yet to announce this mission, the Falcon 9 rocket liftoff target time is 5:20 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
"Türksat 6A is a satellite that will provide data relay for civil and military communications to the Anatolian peninsula as well as most of the European continent, the Middle East, and the westernmost part of the Russian federation," the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex reported.
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Officials at the KSC tourist attraction are touting Türksat 6A viewing opportunities for spectators on a first-come, first-served basis from bleachers 6.7 miles from the launch pad. The Falcon 9 will soar skyward on a due east trajectory, and the first-stage booster will descend and settle for landing atop a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
In December 2021, SpaceX launched the Türksat 5B communications satellite to geostationary orbit 22,236 miles above Earth. It joined Türksat 5A, which flew in January 2021 during the Cape's first rocket launch of that year.
In a Türksat press release issued in May, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uralo?lu stated thousands of engineers worked on the 6A satellite. He emphasized that Turkey is now one of the 10 countries that builds its own communication satellites.
"Communication is our most valuable asset, especially military communication is even more valuable. We are currently providing this, but in order to be safe and protect our space homeland, we will use the satellite that we produced and software for," Uralo?lu said in the press release.
Visit floridatoday.com/space Thursday morning for live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team launch coverage updates, starting about 90 minutes before the launch window opens.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch Türksat 6A communications satellite Monday
