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SpaceX's Busy Year Could Start Thursday Night With Cape Falcon 9 Launch

SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Turksat 5A vertical on pad 40. Thursday's four-hour launch window opens at 8:28 p.m. EST and weather is 70 percent favorable. Photo: SpaceX
SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Turksat 5A vertical on pad 40. Thursday's four-hour launch window opens at 8:28 p.m. EST and weather is 70 percent favorable. Photo: SpaceX

SpaceX is poised to launch its first rocket of 2021 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Thursday night. It marks the start of a very busy year for the private space company.

SpaceX’s first flight of the new year will send a Turkish communication satellite into orbit, launching on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The launch window opens at 8:28 p.m. EST and the weather forecast remains favorable.

If successful, it will kick off the start of a busy year for the private space company, including two astronaut missions, two NASA science probes and multiple commercial, cargo and Starlink launches on its manifest.

SpaceX is also moving forward on its next heavy-lift rocket called Starship with another test flight of a prototype vehicle launching from Boca Chica, Texas as early as Friday

Brendan covers space news for WMFE, everything from rocket launches to the latest scientific discoveries in our universe. He hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration. Brendan is a native Floridian, born and raised in Broward County. He moved to Central Florida in 2005 to attend the University of Central Florida. He began working at WMFE as a college intern where he discovered his love for public radio.