Central Florida residents may hear double sonic booms roughly eight minutes after liftoff when SpaceX returns two Falcon Heavy side boosters to land. SpaceX will launch a Falcon Heavy carrying the 6.6‑ton ViaSat‑3 F3 satellite during an 85‑minute window that opens at 10:21 a.m. EDT Monday from Kennedy Space Center. The three‑core rocket will produce about 5.1 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and send the satellite toward geostationary altitude near 22,236 miles, completing the ViaSat‑3 trio and expanding high‑capacity broadband for the Asia‑Pacific region.

What’s launching

Atop Falcon Heavy is ViaSat‑3 F3, a 6.6‑ton communications satellite built to provide high‑throughput broadband over the Asia‑Pacific region. The satellite will be placed into a geostationary transfer orbit that lines up with geostationary altitude near 22,236 miles, where a craft can match Earth’s rotation and remain fixed over a region. ViaSat‑3 F3 is the third in the small ViaSat‑3 constellation: the first launched in 2023 and entered service in 2024, the second launched late last year and is completing testing. Once in service, the three satellites together will give the operator broader, continuous coverage across major populated regions.

The ViaSat‑3 series is aimed at airlines, civil customers and government clients who need reliable, high‑capacity links—benefiting long‑haul Asia‑Pacific air routes and businesses that depend on consistent broadband over wide areas.

How Falcon Heavy works this time

Falcon Heavy stacks three modified Falcon 9 first stages side‑by‑side. At liftoff those three generate about 5.1 million pounds of thrust—enough to lift heavy communications satellites and deep‑space missions. The configuration on Monday uses side boosters that return to land and a central core that drives the upper stage before falling away into the Atlantic.

SpaceX first flew Falcon Heavy in 2018. The vehicle has supported a mix of commercial and government missions since then and sits between most operational heavy‑lift rockets and NASA’s larger Space Launch System in terms of thrust. SpaceX is also developing larger launchers, but Falcon Heavy remains the company’s workhorse for very large payloads headed to geostationary orbit or beyond.

Booster landings and the sonic‑boom show

Two side boosters will break away and fly back to touch down on land at Cape Canaveral—one to Landing Zone 1 and the other to Landing Zone 2 on the Space Force station property near Kennedy. Those landings require the boosters to brake and re‑enter through the sound barrier, which is when residents may feel double sonic booms. Forecasts say people in parts of these counties may hear one or more booms roughly eight minutes after liftoff (actual sound depends on wind and atmospheric conditions):

  • Brevard
  • Orange
  • Osceola
  • Indian River
  • Seminole
  • Volusia
  • Polk
  • St. Lucie
  • Okeechobee

SpaceX hasn't attempted to recover the center core on Falcon Heavy missions in recent years, so that booster will be expended and fall into the ocean after it finishes its burn. One of the side boosters launching Monday is on its 22nd flight; the other has flown once before—an example of how SpaceX mixes heavily reused hardware with fresher boosters depending on mission needs.

Launch window, livestreams and local schedule

The official launch window runs 85 minutes, opening at 10:21 a.m. EDT. If the team delays the attempt by 24 hours the odds for good weather climb; the local weather squadron gave a 70% chance of acceptable conditions for the nominal attempt and a higher chance if the launch slips one day.

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The official launch window opens at 10:21 a.m. EDT Monday; forecasters say odds for acceptable weather are about 70% for that attempt and improve if the team delays the attempt by 24 hours. ViaSat says the completed ViaSat‑3 constellation will be a key part of its global, high‑capacity network.

This article was created with AI assistance.