CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX hopes to kick off the Labor Day weekend with an early Saturday, Sept. 3, launch of its next Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Liftoff with an Israeli communications satellite is tentatively targeted for 3 a.m., at the opening of a two-hour window, News 6 partner Florida Today reported.
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With the Amos-6 satellite bound for an orbit 22,300 miles over the equator, SpaceX will again be expected to try to land the rocket’s first stage on a ship stationed down range in the Atlantic Ocean.
A successful launch would do more than just deliver the satellite to orbit.
It would also help close the acquisition announced last week of the satellite's owner, Spacecom, by Beijing Xinwei Technology Group, a Chinese conglomerate.
The $285 million acquisition is contingent upon the launch and other conditions including approval by Spacecom shareholders. The company is publicly traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Spacecom, short for Space Communication Ltd., operates three satellites: Amos-2, Amos-3 and Amos-4.
The new one, Amos-6, is expected to replace Amos-2 at an orbital position of 4 degrees west longitude.
Facebook will use some of the satellite’s capacity to support its Internet.org initiative, which aims to expand internet access to roughly 4 billion people lacking it around the globe.