Technology
Watch SpaceX launch a spacecraft to track the oceans of the planet
SpaceX is expected to fire Falcon 9 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday morning, with a planned shutdown time of 9:17 AM PST (12:17 PM EST). This is the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Mission, which carries a satellite of the same name, established by the European Space Agency, NASA, as well as by U.S. and European meteorological monitoring bodies.
The Sentinel-6 is named after former NASA Earth Science Division Chief Michael Freilich, who held the position between 2006 and 2019 and died in August. It is one of the two Sentinel-6-series satellites that will be deployed for the program, with the Sentinel-6B expected to follow the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich sometime in 2025.
SpaceX will be looking to retrieve the Falcon 9 first stage booster with a powered landing back on Earth at Vandenberg's Landing Zone 4. This is the first SpaceX flight from Vandenberg since June last year while several flights have launched from both the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The webcast above will go live roughly 15 minutes before the take-off time, so at about 9:02 AM PST (12:02 PM EST). If this mission is to be cancelled today, there will be a contingency opportunity scheduled for Sunday at 9:04 AM PST (12:04 PM PST).
