Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,896.90
    +77.30 (+0.99%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6518
    -0.0017 (-0.27%)
     
  • OIL

    83.11
    +1.76 (+2.16%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,254.80
    +42.10 (+1.90%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    108,431.67
    +2,509.27 (+2.37%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • AUD/EUR

    0.6036
    +0.0005 (+0.09%)
     
  • AUD/NZD

    1.0901
    +0.0021 (+0.19%)
     
  • NZX 50

    12,105.29
    +94.63 (+0.79%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    18,254.69
    -26.15 (-0.14%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Dow Jones

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     

Watch SpaceX launch a US spy satellite live and bring its booster back for a landing on terra firma

Update 11:15 AM EST: SpaceX has scrubbed the mission for today, and will look to try again tomorrow during a three-hour launch window that opens at 9 AM EST. There was an unusually high pressure reading in the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank that the company will work to resolve.

SpaceX is launching a Falcon 9 today from Kennedy Space Center, with a launch window that spans three hours and opens at 9 AM EST (6 AM PST). The mission will carry a spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and will include a recovery attempt for the first-stage booster used on the Falcon 9 vehicle.

This Falcon 9's first-stage has already flown four times previously, including during two of SpaceX's commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station for NASA, and during a Starlink launch, as well as for SAOCOM 1B, a satellite launch operation for the Argentinian space agency in August.

SpaceX will be attempting a landing back at its landing pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a rarer occurrence versus its use of its two drone landing ships positioned out in the ocean. SpaceX's at-sea landings were introduced to allow for recovery of rocket boosters that didn't have enough fuel remaining on board to make it all the way back to land -- meaning this NRO mission's parameters allow for a "return to sender" trip back home.

Typically, when there's a longer launch window, SpaceX will aim to launch at the beginning, depending on weather conditions. If that's the case today, the stream above should begin at around 8:45 AM EST (15 minutes prior to the opening of the window).