Weather looks good for SpaceX launch to ISS and landing at Cape Canaveral

Emre Kelly
Florida Today

Update:SpaceX launches, lands Falcon rocket at Cape Canaveral; Dragon headed to ISS

Excellent weather conditions are expected for Friday's SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral, according to Air Force forecasters.

If all goes well, the previously flown rocket will vault off the pad at Launch Complex 40 to 90 percent "go" conditions with the presence of thick clouds being the only concern. The mission to resupply the International Space Station via Dragon spacecraft has an instantaneous window to launch at 10:36 a.m.

Though the Space Coast has seen relatively chilly nights and mornings for the past week or so, Cape Canaveral's temperature at liftoff should push the mercury up to about 67 degrees.

SpaceX's thirteenth mission to resupply the ISS, labeled CRS-13, will include a sonic boom-inducing booster landing at the Cape's Landing Zone 1. The 156-foot-tall first stage should deploy its 6-foot-tall landing legs and touch the ground by 10:44 a.m.

[The last Florida launch of 2017 marks several firsts for SpaceX and NASA]

[Blue Origin begins moving into massive New Glenn rocket factory at KSC]

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A in June 2017 on a commercial resupply mission to the ISS. The booster from this mission will be reflown on Tuesday's launch.

A warning issued by SpaceX notes that residents of Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties could hear – and possibly be startled by – the supersonic phenomenon.

If successful, the Dragon spacecraft will take nearly 4,600 pounds of supplies, cargo and science experiments to the orbiting outpost and eventually target a return splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

CRS-13 will be the first mission from Launch Complex 40 since a September 2016 explosion damaged the pad's structure, forcing the company to rebuild and modernize the complex.

Friday is SpaceX's last chance to launch to the ISS before a 10-day "beta angle cutout," or period of time when the station will see increased sunlight and less time in Earth's shadow, forcing teams to wait until at least Christmas Day. The primary concern during that period would be thermal loads.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook at @EmreKelly.

Launch Friday

  • Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
  • Mission: ISS resupply for NASA
  • Launch Time: 10:36 a.m.
  • Launch Window: Instantaneous
  • Launch Complex: 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
  • Weather: 90 percent "go"

Join FloridaToday.com/Space at 9 a.m. Friday for countdown chat and updates, including streaming of NASA's launch webcast.