All articles tagged with #slc 40
SpaceX is largely moving launches away from Kennedy Space Center's LC-39A, reserving the pad for Falcon Heavy and Starship tests while shifting most Falcon 9 missions to SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral; 39A's next use may be a July 2026 Falcon Heavy mission, pending infrastructure upgrades and licensing.
SpaceX set a new pad turnaround record at Cape Canaveral's SLC-40 by launching Starlink 6-98 just 45 hours after Starlink 6-97, lifting off at 1:08 p.m. EST with a 29-satellite Starlink deployment. Booster B1085 landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, marking SpaceX’s 139th landing on that vessel and 559th booster landing overall. It was SpaceX’s fourth Starlink launch and sixth Falcon 9 flight of 2026, surpassing the previous 50-hour 44-minute record set between NROL-77 and Starlink 6-90.
SpaceX's upcoming 30th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station will mark the first use of a new access tower at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) in Florida, allowing a Dragon 2 capsule to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The mission, CRS-30, is scheduled for Thursday, March 21 and will carry over 6,000 pounds of payloads, including food, supplies, and equipment for the ISS crew, as well as more than 40 science investigations. The new access arm will enable late-loading of supplies, and the mission will also validate the tower for future crewed flights. Additionally, the payloads include experiments involving Astrobee robots, plant metabolism in space, sea ice and wave height measurement, nanoparticle solar cells, and more.
SpaceX has tested a new emergency-escape slide at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) in Florida, designed to quickly evacuate astronauts in the event of an emergency before liftoff. The slide, resembling an amusement park ride, is part of SpaceX's effort to certify SLC-40 for astronaut launches. The recent test is a step towards this goal, as SpaceX has launched numerous missions from SLC-40, with another scheduled for Thursday, March 21.
SpaceX has tested a new emergency-escape slide at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) in Florida, designed to quickly evacuate astronauts from the launch tower in case of an emergency before liftoff. The slide, resembling an amusement park ride, is part of SpaceX's effort to certify SLC-40 for astronaut launches and is different from the evacuation system at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The recent test comes ahead of SpaceX's scheduled launch of a robotic Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station from SLC-40 on Thursday.
SpaceX is set to launch the Arabsat 7B satellite to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) for Arabsat atop its Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This launch will mark the quickest turnaround time of SLC-40 ever at four days, 21 hours, and five minutes. The satellite will provide satellite TV and telecommunication services to central Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.