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. . 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.