SpaceX - Falcon 9 - Galileo FOC FM25 & FM27 - LC-39A - Kennedy Space Center - April 28, 2024

SpaceX is targeting Saturday, April 27 at 8:34 p.m. EDT (00:34 UTC, 02:34 CEST, April 28) for a Falcon 9 launch of the European Commission’s Galileo L12 mission to medium Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If needed, a backup opportunity exists on Sunday, April 28 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Due to the additional performance required to deliver the payload to medium Earth orbit, this mission marks the 20th and final launch for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, Intuitive Machines IM-1, and 13 Starlink missions.
The satellites of the Galileo-Constellation were mostly 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.
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.

[@PuechPierreLouis]

Good job !

[@Rose-zf9md]

Gratulation ✨

[@jeanmaries4147]

Plus de 300 lancements et toujours les mêmes commentaires. Laissez nous regarder tranquillement les lancements.la fusée est parti 56 secondes sans commentaires, que du bonheur.

[@dissaid]

Bumping since no launch today...

[@nenadkatic3081]

Thanks for reproducadhion information tenks so match good lucky

[@thomasbhofsocal5324]

For godsakes, why do the narrators always seem to think they have to tell us what it is that we have just heard mission control say.

[@Space-Affairs]

People do have problems nowadays ...