SpaceX is targeting a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, Jan. 18, with a four-hour window from 5:04 p.m. to 9:04 p.m. The rocket will carry 29 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit and aims to land its first stage on the drone ship A Shortfall Of Gravitas. The company recently set a rapid-turnaround record by launching two Starlink missions just 45 hours apart. The activity follows a $739 million Space Force award for nine national security launches and coincides with NASA’s Artemis II rollout preparations.
SpaceX Targets Jan. 18 Falcon 9 Launch From Cape Canaveral After Record Turnaround
SpaceX teams, fresh off another rapid pad turnaround, are targeting Sunday, Jan. 18, for a Falcon 9 liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The company has a four-hour launch window that runs from 5:04 p.m. to 9:04 p.m.
This mission will deliver 29 Starlink broadband satellites to low-Earth orbit. SpaceX plans to recover the Falcon 9 first-stage booster on its autonomous drone ship A Shortfall Of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
On Monday, Jan. 14, SpaceX set a rapid-turnaround record by launching the Starlink 6-98 mission exactly 45 hours after the Starlink 6-97 flight — both from Launch Complex 40. "New year, new records!" SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev posted on X (formerly Twitter) confirming the milestone.
Florida Today's space team will provide live coverage beginning roughly 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space. Photographers are advised the rocket will ascend on a southeasterly trajectory.
Context: Military Contracts and NASA Activity
Last week, the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command awarded SpaceX a $739 million contract to conduct nine national security launches, scheduled from later this year through the second quarter of fiscal 2028. Those missions are intended to place missile-warning and missile-tracking spacecraft into orbit.
L3Harris Technologies will assemble and integrate some of those satellites at its new $100 million facility on the Palm Bay campus.
The planned January 18 launch also comes amid intense activity at Cape Canaveral: it is expected to occur a day after NASA teams roll the Artemis II crew’s deep-space stack — the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft — out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center as they prepare for the lunar mission.
Spaceflight operations around Cape Canaveral remain tightly scheduled in the coming days, with commercial, military and NASA missions all overlapping. For the latest updates and live coverage, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Reporter: Rick Neale, Space Reporter, Florida Today. Contact: RNeale@floridatoday.com — Twitter/X: @RickNeale1.
Support local journalism: subscription information is available on Florida Today.
Help us improve.
