SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, November 23 for Falcon 9’s launch of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection...
SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, November 23 for Falcon 9’s launch of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The instantaneous launch window is at 10:21 p.m. PST (6:21 UTC on November 24), and a backup opportunity is available on Wednesday, November 24 at 10:20 p.m. PST (6:20 UTC on November 25). This will be the third flight for this Falcon 9’s first stage booster, which previously supported launch of Sentinel-6A and a Starlink mission. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be located in the Pacific Ocean. DART is humanity’s first planetary defense test mission to see if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future.