SpaceX targeting early Sunday launch from Cape Canaveral
SpaceX is targeting a 1:26 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, launch of a Falcon 9 rocket and Japanese communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The mission is SpaceX's second in just over three months for Tokyo-based Sky Perfect JSAT, Asia's largest satellite operator with 16 in orbit.
The new satellite, called JCSAT-16, will serve as an orbital spare for that fleet. A Falcon 9 successfully launched JCSAT-14 from Launch Complex 40 on May 6.
The launch forecast is excellent, with a 90 percent chance of favorable conditions, according to meteorologists at the Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron.
The mission will loft the satellite built by Space Systems Loral on its way to an orbit 22,300 miles over the equator.
SpaceX is expected to try to land the first stage of the Falcon 9' on the deck of a ship stationed down range in the Atlantic Ocean.
The booster travels too fast on such launches to high orbits and doesn't have enough extra fuel to attempt a return to land.
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