SpaceX targeting next week for Falcon 9 mission; first daytime launch in 6 months

If schedules hold, SpaceX next week will vault a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center into the day's last light, signaling a break from the Space Coast's streak of late-night launches.

All Eastern Range missions since May have taken flight in the early morning hours, but teams next Thursday have a launch window at pad 39A that opens in the afternoon and closes around sunset. It will also mark SpaceX's first launch from the historic Apollo and space shuttle-era pad since May, which last hosted the company's first-ever Falcon 9 Block 5, an upgraded version of the rocket that has been in operation since 2010.

The exact timing of the launch window will be released after SpaceX successfully test fires the Falcon 9 rocket, which is expected this weekend or early next week.

The rocket's first stage is expected to perform an automated descent toward the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship shortly after liftoff, so Space Coast residents and visitors should not anticipate the usual triple sonic booms that are heard when the booster returns to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It should sail into Port Canaveral before the end of the weekend.

On board: Es'hail-2, a Qatari communications satellite for operator Es'hailSat that will cover the Middle East and North Africa region from a geostationary orbit. Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corporation manufactured the satellite.

SpaceX's following launch is also scheduled for a daytime liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 4. That mission, the company's 16th resupply of the International Space Station, has an instantaneous 1:38 p.m. launch window and will ferry thousands of pounds of cargo, science experiments and supplies.

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