Tonight, Saturday, December 11th through Sunday, December 12th, SpaceX will be falcon 9 A rocket launching a private Japanese lander on its journey to the moon. The launch will be streamed live from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Space Force Station Cape Canaveral, Florida. Details on how to watch are below.
What to expect from the launch
Falcon 9 will carry ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1, which will be deployed from the rocket about an hour after launch. The lander will then head to the moon, where it will be several months before the scheduled lunar landing in April 2023. The aim is to create a commercial lunar lander capable of carrying both civilian and government payloads to the moon. This time, as part of the UAE’s first lunar exploration mission, the lander will carry a rover called Rashid from the United Arab Emirates.
SpaceX will launch this mission on the same rocket that launches the payload into Earth orbit, but in this case, instead of entering orbit, the HAKUTOR-R spacecraft will leave the Earth and continue moving toward the Moon.
Like HAKUTO-R, Falcon 9 will also carry NASA’s small rover called Lunar Flashlight, which will orbit the moon. The purpose of this mission is to study the surface of the Moon to detect water ice deposits around Antarctica. This could be an important resource for future manned explorers.
how to watch the launch
The launch will be live-streamed by SpaceX, including final pre-launch preparations, the launch itself, the catch of the first stage booster, and payload separation. The launch window will begin on Sunday, December 11th at 2:38am ET (11:38pm PT on Saturday, December 10th), with coverage beginning approximately 15 minutes earlier. If bad weather or anything else causes problems with the launch, there will be a second chance for him to launch early in the morning on Monday, December 12th.
To watch the live stream, SpaceX YouTube page For events or use the video embedded at the top of this page.
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