November 27th, 2019 - 2019 appears to be going out on a BANG this December, as the Eastern Range of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and NASA Kennedy Space Center, prepare for a rapid succession of rocket launches. With a potential for up to 5 launches being slated for the Christmas season, members of the media, pace fans, and locals alike, are preparing for one of the busiest month's the community has seen all year.
Ringing in the launch season will be Space X's 11th launch of the year, CRS-19, on December 4th. This mission will see a brand new Falcon 9 Block 5 booster, B. 1059.1, and a Cargo Dragon spacecraft, which previously supported the CRS-4 and CRS-11 missions. This launch is the latest for Space X's Commercial Re-Supply contract with NASA, to provide replenishing services to the International Space Station.
Additionally, Space X aims to loft commercial payload, JCSat-18 into orbit onboard another Falcon 9 launch vehicle, just over a week later on December 16th.
Perhaps one of the most anticipated and important launches of 2019, is currently slated for December 17th, and will see Boeing's Commercial Crew Spacecraft, the CST-100 StarLiner, embark on it maiden voyage to orbit on top a ULA Atlas V rocket. This is expected to be a huge step forward towards NASA launching Astronauts to the ISS in 2020 from U.S. soil. Another mission, vital to the Commercial Crew program, which is currently slated for NET December, is Space X's In-Flight Abort Test which will test the escape functionality of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, while in flight, which is expected to result in the termination of it's Falcon 9 launch vehicle mid-air. (aka, fireworks!)
And hopefully rounding out this exciting cadence, we will see another batch of 60 StarLink satellites inserted into Low Earth Orbit by a Space X Falcon 9.
Are you excited for "Launch-pocalypse"? Us too. Be sure to share this article to let a fellow space fan or Florida resident know about the exciting times coming up! And as always, stay tuned here to Hover-Slam Space for the latest Spaceflight news & media content!
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