When Space Force and NASA officials said that 2024 was likely to be the busiest year in the history of the Eastern Range, they weren’t kidding. SpaceX announced today that they are planning to launch Falcon 9 tomorrow afternoon on the Starlink 6-35 mission from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — the pad immediately adjacent to Pad SLC-41, where United Launch Alliance plans to launch the maiden voyage of Vulcan. SpaceX’s window opens at 4pm EST, while Vulcan is slated for 2:18am — ten hours and eighteen minutes later.

According to SpaceX tomorrow’s flight will be the “16th flight for the first stage booster [B-1076] supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, mPOWER-a, PSN SATRIA, and seven Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.”

Pad Proximity

This will be the shortest time and distance in recent memory for two separate launch companies to have launch attempts within 12 hours of each other: Pads SLC-41 and SLC-40 are approximately 1.56 miles (2.51 kilometers apart.)

SpaceX recently launched a Starlink aboard Falcon 9 and a Space Force payload on Falcon Heavy on the same day, but SLC-40 and Pad LC-39A are about 3.6 miles apart and of course the company benefitted from internal synchronization of the two launches.

Mission Trajectory

Southeast. Booster B-1076 will land offshore near the Bahamas.

Weather

The 45th Weather Squadron issued their Starlink L-1 forecast today, and has predicted an 80% chance of acceptable launch weather with only a 20% Probability of Violation.

45th Weather Squadron Launch Forecast FAQ

Backup Launch Windows

According to SpaceX, “backup opportunities available until 7:59 p.m. ET. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Monday, January 8 starting at 4:01 p.m. ET.”

Launch schedules can and do change, so spectators planning to view either launch live on the Space coast should keep a close eye on the launch companies respective websites and/or X feeds for the latest information.