United Launch Alliance didn’t solve the meaning of life, but it did sent up the 42nd rocket this year from the Space Coast today.
A ULA Atlas V carrying two telecommunications satellites for Luxembourg-based company SES blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 5:36 p.m.
It’s the first of three launches planned this week with NASA and SpaceX gearing up to send four people on the Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at noon Wednesday, although that could delay to Thursday or Friday mission managers said during a Monday press conference.
SpaceX is also prepping a Falcon 9 launch of a satellite from Canaveral’s SLC 40, currently on tap for Thursday during a window from 7:06-8:14 p.m.
“Important to note that different teams are working each of these launches and we are ensuring that our team is all well rested,” said Benji Reed, SpaceX’s senior director for its Human Spaceflight Programs division. Reed said that if Crew-5 stays on track, that teams would stand down from a planned California launch of Starlink satellites it also has planned Wednesday so the company can focus on reviewing Crew-5 launch data.
The Space Launch Delta 45 weather squadron updated the launch forecast to greater than 90% chance for good conditions for both Wednesday and Thursday’s windows.
If all goes well, the Space Coast will have hit 44 launches by the end of what is the 40th week of the year.
The ULA launch’s two payloads were the SES 21 and 22, a pair of satellites built by Boeing headed for near-geosynchronous orbit that will provide television broadcasting services to the United States.
And for those not familiar with “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the answer to the meaning of life is 42.
Follow Orlando Sentinel space coverage at Facebook.com/goforlaunchsentinel.