Update 7:24 a.m. EST (1224 UTC): Adjusted launch time; added details about the Falcon 9 first stage booster.
SpaceX is making ready for its closing mission supporting the National Reconnaissance Office in 2024.
The NROL-149 mission is focusing on liftoff on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at 5:19 a.m. PST (8:19 a.m. EST, 1319 UTC).
Spaceflight Now may have reside protection starting about half-hour previous to liftoff.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, B1063, can be making its twenty second flight on this mission. It’s earlier flights included NROL-113, NROL167, DART and 14 Starlink missions.
Just a little greater than eight minutes after liftoff, B1063 will contact down on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ If profitable, this would be the 114th booster touchdown on OCISLY and the 384th booster touchdown up to now.
Onboard the rocket are an undisclosed variety of satellites, that are believed to be Starshield, the federal government variant of the Starlink satellites.
