SpaceX plans to launch the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite for NASA and the French, Canadian, and United Kingdom space agencies on 2022-12-16 at 11:46 UTC. The launch will be from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The first stage booster, B1071, will be making its sixth flight, after a turnaround time of 72 days since its last mission. The first stage booster will return to the launch site for a landing at Landing Zone 4.
The payload, a ocean science satellite, will be placed in an 845 km orbit at 77.6° inclination (which will require a “dog leg” trajectory from the Vandenberg launch site), then eventually raise itself to its 890 km operational altitude.
Here is the pre-flight preview from Everyday Astronaut.
Update: The launch was postponed one day from its originally scheduled date of 2022-12-15 due to discovery of moisture in two of the Falcon 9 first stage booster’s engines. The delay is to “review data” and make sure nothing’s wrong. (2022-12-15 14:06 UTC)
