BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy rocket is vertical on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of a national security mission for the U.S. Space Force.
As early as this evening, SpaceX is expected to conduct a static fire test ahead of Monday’s planned 9:44 a.m. launch. It will be the first Falcon Heavy to lift off from Florida’s Space Coast since June 2019.
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It is a classified mission, but we do know it will place multiple satellites into orbit for the U.S. Space Force’s “Space Systems Command” and the National Security Space Launch program, said Dr. Ken Kremer, with Space UpClose. “It’s a classified mission but it’s critical for U.S. national defense.”
Kremer said there were problems with the satellite that delayed its launch by about two years.
Read: Space Force, SpaceX preparing Falcon Heavy to launch this month
“But that’s fixed now, and hopefully when they do a static fire test later today that will clear the path to the launch,” Kremer said.
After the launch of this U.S. Space Force mission, SpaceX plans to recover the Falcon 9 Heavy’s two side boosters, which will be refurbished and used for another Space Force launch later this year.
Read: SpaceX finally launches delayed telecommunications satellite after ‘data review’
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