SpaceX Falcon Heavy : USSF-67 : KSC LC-39A : 15 January 2023 (22:56 UTC)

[ZachS09]

Successful USSF-44 Launch ‘Sign of What’s to Come’

“We’re launching two satellites within 70 days of one another, which is fantastic from a program perspective,” Rupp said.

This implies that the USSF-67 launch target is no later than January 10th.

With the successful launch today of OneWeb Flight 15, is this the next launch from LC-39A?

GewoonLukas_ on Twitter claims USSF-67 is supposedly the next LC-39A launch. He’s not an official source, I know that.

https://twitter.com/gewoonlukas_/status/1600875484904009729

[GewoonLukas_]

Successful USSF-44 Launch ‘Sign of What’s to Come’

“We’re launching two satellites within 70 days of one another, which is fantastic from a program perspective,” Rupp said.

This implies that the USSF-67 launch target is no later than January 10th.

With the successful launch today of OneWeb Flight 15, is this the next launch from LC-39A?

GewoonLukas_ on Twitter claims USSF-67 is supposedly the next LC-39A launch. He’s not an official source, I know that.

https://twitter.com/gewoonlukas_/status/1600875484904009729

It was an educated guess I made based on the date in the FCC filing, Ben Cooper's Launch Schedule & the recent pad turnaround time for USSF-44. This made it look like they weren't gonna be able to squeeze in a Starlink mission. Turns out I was wrong:

Next Spaceflight says that Starlink 4-37 will launch from Pad 39A NET December 17th. AFAIK, this was updated within the last ~24 hours.

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7015

So likely after Starlink 4-37 now.

[zubenelgenubi]

When did "we" learn that the side boosters would return to launch site?

[GewoonLukas_]

When did "we" learn that the side boosters would return to launch site?

The same as USSF-44. When the FCC STA Request appeared, it didn't mention the droneships, which means RTLS.

USSF-67?
1894-EX-ST-2022
Mission 1586.  Expendable center core, booster RTLS.  NET late December

[zubenelgenubi]

After tomorrow's launch of Starlink 4-37, we will see(?) if preparations are started for a Falcon Heavy launch or not.

[GewoonLukas_]

After tomorrow's launch of Starlink 4-37, we will see(?) if preparations are started for a Falcon Heavy launch or not.

I'm expecting them to do so. Ben Cooper is currently not mentioning any launches from LC-39A between Starlink 4-37 and USSF-67; OneWeb Flight #16, Transporter-6 and Starlink 5-1 are all from SLC-40. Also if that NLT/NET January 10th date is still anything to go by, they'll need to start in order to be able to make that date. Especially with the holidays coming up.

The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Starlink batch from pad 39A on December 17 at 4:32 or 4:52 p.m. EST. Then, a Falcon 9 will launch a Starlink batch from pad 40 on December 28 around 3 a.m. EST. A Falcon 9 will launch the Transporter-6 smallsat rideshare mission from pad 40 on January 2 at 9:55 a.m. EST. The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch. A Falcon 9 will launch a batch of OneWeb internet satellites from pad 40 on early January TBD. The first stage will land back at the Cape. A Falcon Heavy from pad 39A will launch the USSF-67 mission for the U.S. Space Force on January TBD. The first stages will land back at the Cape. And a Falcon 9 from pad 40 will launch GPS III-6 for the U.S. Space Force on January 18.

[Conexion Espacial]

After tomorrow's launch of Starlink 4-37, we will see(?) if preparations are started for a Falcon Heavy launch or not.

Yes, after Starlink 4-37 they will start working on the launch pad for the Falcon Heavy launches, after CRS-27 launch, they will finalize everything.

[crandles57]

After tomorrow's launch of Starlink 4-37, we will see(?) if preparations are started for a Falcon Heavy launch or not.

Yes, after Starlink 4-37 they will start working on the launch pad for the Falcon Heavy launches, after CRS-27 launch, they will finalize everything.

https://spider.seds.org/shuttle/iss-sche.html
has feb for CRS27.

So does that mean USSF67 and viasat-3 back to back in Jan before crs27 and crew6 in Feb?

[GewoonLukas_]

After tomorrow's launch of Starlink 4-37, we will see(?) if preparations are started for a Falcon Heavy launch or not.

Yes, after Starlink 4-37 they will start working on the launch pad for the Falcon Heavy launches, after CRS-27 launch, they will finalize everything.

CRS-27 won't launch before USSF-67. The January 10th launch date is really old, so it has slipped to at least after Crew-6. NextSpaceflight is also the only website still mentioning that launchdate, and if it really would have been scheduled for January 10th, we would have seen that launchdate on other websites/sources by now.

After tomorrow's launch of Starlink 4-37, we will see(?) if preparations are started for a Falcon Heavy launch or not.

Yes, after Starlink 4-37 they will start working on the launch pad for the Falcon Heavy launches, after CRS-27 launch, they will finalize everything.

https://spider.seds.org/shuttle/iss-sche.html
has feb for CRS27.

So does that mean USSF67 and viasat-3 back to back in Jan before crs27 and crew6 in Feb?

Yes, likely USSF-67 in Early/Mid-January, then ViaSat-3 in Late-January/Early-February, then Crew-6 on February 19th, followed by CRS-27 in Late-February/Early March

[GewoonLukas_]

NextSpaceflight (Updated 18 December)
Launch NET January 10th
Center Core no longer B1079, side boosters still B1064 & B1065

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/4989

[zubenelgenubi]

NextSpaceflight (Updated 18 December)
Launch NET January 10th
Center Core no longer B1079, side boosters still B1064 & B1065
https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/4989

Makes sense--B1079 has not yet been tested at McGregor?

B1070 would be free?  It's on site and assigned as the core for USSF-52 in April.

[GewoonLukas_]

NextSpaceflight (Updated 18 December)
Launch NET January 10th
Center Core no longer B1079, side boosters still B1064 & B1065
https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/4989

Makes sense--B1079 has not yet been tested at McGregor?

B1070 would be free?  It's on site and assigned as the core for USSF-52 in April.

Yes, B1078 has only just gone horizontal after completing it's testing campaign and B1079 has not gone vertical yet.

To me, the most logical option would be that B1070 and B1079 switched assignments (so B1070 now flies USSF-67, B1079 now flies USSF-52). But it also wouldn't surprise me if they just took the "oldest", which would mean that B1068 flies USSF-67, and B1070 flies ViaSat-3. (Which shouldn't matter since they're all expendable). We'll probably have to wait for close-up pictures once the rocket is vertical to know for sure, but I think it's pretty safe to say that B1068 and B1070 are launching USSF-67 and ViaSat-3 next month.

[Slyy]

May be in Florida that week, what are the chances this launch is actually happening the 10th? It would be the first launch I’ve seen if so. Thanks!!

[gongora]

This recent article from Aerospace Corp. says the three NSSL flights are still using the same set of boosters.

https://aerospace.org/article/ussf-44-space-force-successfully-completes-first-mission-falcon-heavy-rocket

[lenny97]

May be in Florida that week, what are the chances this launch is actually happening the 10th? It would be the first launch I’ve seen if so. Thanks!!

Ben Cooper, updated just now:

A Falcon Heavy from pad 39A will launch the USSF-67 mission for the U.S. Space Force onJanuary 10. The first stages will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch.

[GewoonLukas_]

Potential conflict with the booster from OneWeb Flight #16 occupying the landing zone:

NextSpaceflight (Updated January 1st/2nd)
Launch NET January 9th, 04:45 UTC
https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/6986\

Edit: Potential Landing Zone conflict with USSF-67 NET January 10th?

[crandles57]

If interested to know, closest ground pad reuse is I think 14 days at Vandenberg: 16 December 2022 to 30 December 2022.

8th Dec 2022 and 11 Dec 2022 used LZ-1 and LZ-2 which might seem to suggest they cannot use same pad within 2 days 9 hours. However, I believe they were scheduled for less than a day apart.

USSF-67 may well be more than a day after Oneweb 16 and it seems there is no choice about using the same landing pad with USSF-67 using both. So rather than using a different landing pad just in case there is some issue, if they have to do it, I assume they will have all the activities carefully planned which may help minimise reuse time.

Is there other information to inform us as to a minimum pad reuse time? 

[lenny97]

The launch has been postponed.
Ben Cooper just updated:

A Falcon Heavy from pad 39A will launch the USSF-67 mission for the U.S. Space Force onmid-January

[crandles57]

just updated? 2 Jan 2022 is ancient 

[lenny97]

just updated? 2 Jan 2022 is ancient 

He just published that change. Before the launch on his website was listed on Jan. 10