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Launch Date: September 16 (EDT) Launch Time: 6:55 p.m. EDT, 2255 UTC - September 17 00:55 CEST Launch Window: Open til 7:39 p.m. EDT Launch Site: SLC-40 - Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA Targeted Orbit: Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Launch Inclination: Northeast Launch Status: Scheduled Mission: Galileo FOC FM26 & FM32 Launch Provider: SpaceX Launch Contractor: European Commission Launcher System: Falcon 9 (Booster TBD) Flight for the Booster: TBD Previous Flights of the Booster: TBD Landing: Droneship Just Read the Instructions (JRTI) Price: $69,75 million (without payload) Diameter: 3,7 m Height: 70 meter Payload to Orbit: 22,800 LEO / 8,300 GTO Lift-Off Thrust: 7,607 Kilonnewtons Fairing: Diameter 5,2 meter / Height 13 meter Stages: 2 SpaceX is targeting September 16 at 6:55 p.m. EDT, 2255 UTC - September 17 00:55 CEST for a Falcon 9 launch of the European Commission’s Galileo L12 mission to medium Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch window is open til 7:39 p.m. EDT. Due to the pair of satellites' higher target altitude and higher inclination of the targeted orbit, the Falcon 9 Booster stage needs all the fuel during the launch. The booster must have mostly 9% of the propellant of the first stage for the landing process on an autonomous drone ship or at a landing zone near the launchpads (Cape Canaveral Space Force Station or Vandenberg Space Force Base). If the mass and inclination are the same as the first pair of satellites of the constellation, which were launched in April 2024 by SpaceX with a Falcon 9, the booster will be discarded. If not, it will land on an autonomous droneship (TBD) stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The satellites of the Galileo-Constellation were mainly launched by Arianespace with a Soyuz ST rocket with a Fregat upper stage from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. However, because of the political situation, the launch of a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana was stopped in 2022. Initially, the satellites should have been launched with the new ESA rocket Ariane-6, but because of the long delays of the successor to the Ariane-5 rocket, it was scrapped. Europe contracted SpaceX to launch the two pairs of Galileo satellites with a Falcon 9 rocket for approximately €180 million. The first pair was launched in April 2024. Due to the pair of satellites' higher target altitude and higher inclination of the targeted orbit, the Falcon 9 Booster stage needs all the fuel during the launch. The booster must have mostly 9% of the propellant of the first stage for the landing process on an autonomous drone ship or at a landing zone near the launchpads (Cape Canaveral Space Force Station or Vandenberg Space Force Base). For this launch, the booster will be discarded. The flight trajectory will be northeast. You will find more information about the trajectory and data on the day of the launch here:
