SpaceX is preparing to launch the latest communications satellite for KT SAT Corporation Ltd., a satellite service provider in South Korea. The Falcon 9 rocket is set to be the first of a potential double launch day on Monday.
Liftoff of the Koreasat-6A mission is scheduled for 12:07 p.m. EST (1707 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. A Starlink delivery mission, postponed from Sunday, is scheduled to fly from pad 40 at neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, four hours later.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail number B1067 in the SpaceX fleet, will launch for a 23rd time. It previously supported the launches of two astronaut missions to the International Space Station (Crew-3 and Crew-4), two cargo flights to the ISS (CRS-22 and CRS-25) and 12 Starlink missions.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1067 is set to touchdown at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. If successful, this will mark the 47th landing at LZ-1 and the 365th booster landing to date.
Notably, this would also mark the first time a booster lands for a 23rd time. The other two boosters that launched for a 23rd time, B1061 and B1062, were taken out of service.
B1061 was intentionally expended following the launch of the Hera spacecraft on Oct. 7, 2024, for the European Space Agency. B1062 was lost when it failed to safely land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ following the launch of the Starlink 8-6 mission on Aug. 28, 2024.
The geostationary Koreasat-6A satellite onboard Monday’s planned launch is designed to replace its predecessor, Koreasat-6, which is in the 116 degrees East position for KT SAT. The former satellite was launched by Arianespace in December 2010 and operates as a Ku-Band satellite.
Koreasat-6A, which was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space is built on the company’s Spacebus 4000B2 platform and includes six broadcast satellite service (BSS) transponders and 20 fixed satellite service (FSS) transponders. The 3.5-metric-ton satellite is designed to operate for 15 years.
