July 27 (UPI) — SpaceX on Thursday again scrubbed the launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket and EchoStar’s Jupiter 3 satellite, missing an opportunity for a record-setting “double launch.”
The company was scheduled to launch the Falcon Heavy rocket within 44 minutes of launching a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink satellites which, according to a report in Space Flight Now, would break a record for the shortest time between Cape Canaveral launches.
“SpaceX is targeting Friday, July 28, for Falcon Heavy’s launch of the Hughes JUPITER 3 mission to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida,” the company said in a press release.
“The 99-minute launch window opens at 11:04 p.m. ET (03:04 UTC on July 29). A backup opportunity is available on Saturday, July 29 with the same window.”
The Falcon 9 launch is still expected to occur around 11:10 p.m. ET, according to another press release from the company.
That rocket will carry 22 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
If the weather does not cooperate with the launch, backup opportunities are also available just after midnight and again Friday evening starting at 10:04 p.m. ET until 12:26 a.m. on Saturday, meaning the two rockets could still launch in a close span.
The Falcon Heavy launch had also been scrubbed Wednesday with just over a minute left in the countdown and no reason was provided at the time.
The JUPITER 3 satellite is reportedly the largest commercial communications satellite ever constructed and will have the wingspan of a commercial airliner when deployed.
