Hello, again, it’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero writing to you moments after watching our last launch before another hurricane hits Florida.
In an update about grounding Falcon launches for the third time in three months, SpaceX was able to launch the Hera mission on time Monday to study the impacts of a 2022 planetary defense test when, like something out of a movie, NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid to change its orbit 11 million miles away!
As dismal as the sky looked here at the Cape, the weather forecast for the 10:52 a.m. liftoff was actually 60% go, and Hera is now on its way to deep space just in the nick of time.
KSC is expected to close Wednesday, and because this mission is interplanetary, its launch window was only open until October 27.
That means had SpaceX not returned to flight as quick as they did, or had Hurricane Milton arrived just a day or two earlier, the deadline to get off the ground could have become much tighter. NASA has already delayed another interplanetary mission on a SpaceX rocket — Europa Clipper going to Jupiter; and bringing home four crew members onboard the International Space Station.
Here’s hoping the hurricane passes with minimal additional impacts to the spaceflight schedule. I’m thinking of all of you as well as I prepare to cover another major storm.
Stay safe and talk again soon.
📧 Have any topics you’d like to discuss? Send me an email here.
👋 Here’s a little bit more about me.
Little did I know when watching Apollo 13 in the third grade that 20 years later, I was destined for a thrilling career as your Space Coast multimedia journalist.
Chemistry and biology weren’t so interesting to me in high school science, but I loved my Earth and Space class (Thanks, Mr. Lang).
Then in 2016, I traded Capitol correspondent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for space correspondent. I’m proud that my first live report at News 6 happened to be the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster on a barge. What seems so routine now was a really big deal that day in our newsroom!
From there, I’ve covered the Commercial Crew program and the return of human spaceflight to Kennedy Space Center (Demo-2 launched on my 33rd birthday!)
Now, as our coverage looks forward to missions to the moon and Mars, I often tell others I have the best job in local news. Because after all I’ve seen so far, I think I would be bored working somewhere else. I even bought a house near the Cape with a great view to the north so I never miss a launch even when I’m not working.
After eight years on the beat, though, I still consider myself a young space reporter and I always look forward to learning something new with every assignment.
Have a great launch into the rest of your week!
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