SpaceX to Launch Mysterious Zuma Spacecraft Tonight

[thujone]

SpaceX plans to launch the secret Zuma payload for the U.S. government this evening (Jan. 7), after a nearly two-month delay.

Zuma is scheduled to lift off atop a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station tonight between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST (0100 to 0300 GMT on Jan. 8). You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of the company. You can also watch the liftoff directly from SpaceX's live webcast page here.

Sunday's launch will also include a landing attempt by the Falcon 9's first stage, which will come back down to Earth at Landing Zone 1, a SpaceX facility at Cape Canaveral. To date, SpaceX has pulled off 20 such first-stage landings, which are part of its push to develop fully and rapidly reusable rockets. [SpaceX's Zuma Launch: Here's What We Know]

Zuma is a U.S. government spacecraft headed to low-Earth orbit. But that's pretty much all that outside observers know about it; everyone involved with the mission has remained pretty tight-lipped.

https://www.space.com/39310-spacex-mysterious-zuma-mission-launch-webcast.html

 

[Vastness]

SpaceX is truly an impressive company. Falcon Heavy is also launching later this month! Personally, I can't wait.

 

[thujone]

The plot thickens...

Did SpaceX or Northrop Grumman screw up a secret satellite launch? It’s classified

Falcon Heavy looks pretty cool, wonder how many eggs fit in the nosecone I hope someone gets that joke...

 

[Tranced]

^It's really interesting this, I'm intrigued to know what happened/what it was.

 

[thujone]

dunno, I'm still waiting to hear what the X-37 has been hauling into space...

 

[andyz]

sounds interesting. I like watching live camera at https://worldcams.tv/other/international-space-station at the International Space Station. There is also the Earth HD camera which gives a close look at the satellites. It looks really fantastic.