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For the second time this month, SpaceX is gearing as much as launch the X-37B military spaceplane onboard its Falcon Heavy rocket. Liftoff of the U.S.-52 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is ready for 8:07 p.m. EST (0107 UTC) on Thursday on the opening of a ten-minute launch window.
The launch attempt comes after SpaceX and the U.S. Space Force needed to delayed the mission from Dec. 11 as a consequence of “a ground side issue”. The Falcon Heavy was returned to its hangar on Dec. 14 with SpaceX not sayingthe vehicle remained ‘healthy’ in its social media posts.
SpaceX didn’t elaborate on the explanation or reasons for the delay, but multiple sources tells Spaceflight Now that at the very least one engine had to get replaced on the Falcon Heavy rocket. A second static fire test was deemed unnecessary, which allowed SpaceX to get in one other launch attempt before the top of the 12 months and reschedule the mission for Dec. 28.
Onboard the three-core rocket is the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV). This shall be the seventh launch in this system’s history since 2010 and the fourth flight of Vehicle 2 the second of two craft within the OTV fleet.
Spaceflight Now can have live coverage of the launch from the Kennedy Space Center starting about 1.5 hours ahead of liftoff.
The Falcon Heavy rocket for this mission rolled back out to the pad at Launch Complex 39A Wednesday morning. It’ll mark the second time SpaceX will launch the X-37B after previously giving it a ride on a Falcon 9 on the fifth OTV mission in September 2017.
All other previous mission were launched using United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 501 rocket from neighboring pad 41.
More information in regards to the X-37B and the importance of the mission for each SpaceX and the U.S. Space Force might be found here.
About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the 2 Falcon Heavy side boosters, tail numbers B1064 and B1065, will return to Landing Zone 1 and a couple of at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Those watching the launch in person may hear a pair of sonic booms as they reenter the atmosphere.
These boosters are making their fifth flight up to now after launching the U.S.-44, USSF-67, Jupiter-3 and Psyche missions previously. They shall be launched yet another time in October 2024 to launch NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft to the Jovian moon of the identical name.
Planting the seeds of progress
While the payloads on board the spaceplane are mostly undisclosed, the mission shall be one other opportunity for NASA to learn in regards to the impacts of long-duration spaceflight for humans.
No astronauts shall be onboard the flight, but NASA is sending up a sequel to its RAD-SEED 1 and RAD-SEED 2 experiments.
“For this mission, we’ll send latest forms of seeds mainly for leafy greens,” said a NASA spokesperson in an announcement. “We’re also sending different varieties of the identical form of seeds, aiming to judge the differences between/amongst these varieties in response to the space environment.”
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The brand new varieties of seeds include cauliflower, amara, scarlet frill and garnet giant. Also they are sending up two varieties of every of the next: radish, pac choi, peppers and brachypodium.
Together with eight varieties of Arabidopsis, listed below are the opposite seeds that shall be onboard the X-37B:
- Lettuce
- Mizuna
- Tomato
- Swiss chard
- Onions
- Wheat
- Cucumber
- Rice