SpaceX is targeting a pre-sunrise Falcon 9 launch Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, though the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron puts the chance of favorable conditions at 55%.
The hourlong launch window for the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission opens at 6:30 a.m. The forecast cites cumulus clouds and liftoff winds as concerns, along with moderate to high odds that weather could interfere with the planned drone-ship landing near the Bahamas.
On the Space Coast, marine stratocumulus clouds are expected to move onshore during the launch period, with cloud bases between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Kelly told Florida Today. Skies are expected to be partly to mostly cloudy.
If Falcon 9 lifts off between 6:30 and 7 a.m., the timing could create a colorfully illuminated “space jellyfish” effect in the predawn sky, according to the Space Jellyfish Predictor website. A similar effect was visible after NASA’s SpaceX CRS-35 resupply mission launched at 6:33 a.m. on Oct. 13.
Bandwagon-5 is scheduled to deploy 32 payloads, including cubesats, microsatellites and reentry vehicles, into low-Earth orbit. Following stage separation, the mission’s first-stage booster is expected to attempt its 19th landing on SpaceX’s drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
