Update 5/27 9:12 p.m. EDT: SpaceX has nailed the landing for the third time in a row, and for the second time from a high ecliptic mission. Still thrilling to see every time.
Update 5/27 4:00 p.m. EDT: SpaceX is going to attempt the Thaicom 8 launch tonight at 5:39 p.m. EDT. Live coverage of the launch starts at 5:20 p.m. and can be watched in the video player above. The launch window will remain open until 7:40 p.m.
Update 7:55 p.m. EDT: SpaceX has postponed the launch until "no earlier than tomorrow" for additional data review, according to SpaceX's twitter. Elon Musk announced that there was a glitch in the motion of an upper stage engine actuator and the launch was postponed out of caution.
Update 6:10 p.m. EDT: SpaceX has pushed the target launch time back to 7:36 p.m.
SpaceX is all set to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral this evening at 5:40 p.m. Eastern time. You can watch a live broadcast of the launch and attempted landing above.
The Falcon will be carrying a 7,000-pound Thai communications satellite called Thaicom 8. Tonight's launch should be similar to SpaceX's launch of a Japanese communications satellite earlier this month, though this one will be in the daylight rather than at night. To place these satellites into geostationary orbit—meaning they hover over one area of the globe at all times—the rockets must launch with a large amount of thrust to ultimately send the satellites 22,236 miles above the equator. (Thaicom 8 will actually orbit a bit higher than that, in what is known as supersynchronous orbit.)
What goes up must come down, and the first stage of the Falcon 9 will be coming down at very high speeds. SpaceX will attempt to land the rocket booster on a floating barge off the coast of Florida—the autonomous drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You." SpaceX says a successful landing is unlikely. But that's what they said last time, and they pulled it off.
Thaicom 8, built by Orbital ATK, will provide television and internet services to Thailand, India, and parts of Africa. SpaceX is on a roll this year, averaging one launch per month—assuming the fifth launch of 2016 goes according to plan tonight.
Source: Florida Today
Jay Bennett is the associate editor of PopularMechanics.com. He has also written for Smithsonian, Popular Science and Outside Magazine.
