The mission, known as STP-2 has a planned 4-hour launch window, which opens at 11:30 p.m. EDT (0330 GMT on June 25). The mission is managed by the Air Force through its Space Test Program (STP for short), STP-2 is the next epic ride-share SpaceX plans to pull off, and according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, it will be the toughest one yet.
According to SpaceX Mission specifications, there will be four separate upper-stage engine burns, three separate deployment orbits, a final propulsive passivation maneuver and a total mission duration of over six hours.
In addition, the U.S. Air Force plans to reuse side boosters from the Arabsat-6A Falcon Heavy launch, recovered after a return to launch site landing, making it the first reused Falcon Heavy ever flown for the U.S. Air Force.
Monday’s launch will mark the third flight for the Falcon Heavy and the first one carrying more than one satellite. While 24 DoD satellites won’t be a big deal weight-wise for the megarocket, it is the challenge of pinpointing and hitting the orbital range of the different satellites that will require extra care.
The Falcon Heavy is essentially three smaller, Falcon 9 rockets strapped together, adding up to a total of 27 engines. The 230-foot (70-meter) tall rocket is designed to carry nearly 141,000 pounds (64 metric tons) into orbit — more than the mass of a fully loaded 737 jetliner.
The U.S. Air Force has already certified Falcon Heavy to fly national security payloads, with SpaceX snagging its first military mission for the rocket last summer: a $130 million deal to launch an Air Force Space Command satellite sometime in 2020.
The Air Force announced that it had selected the Falcon Heavy to launch its Air Force Space Command-52 (AFSPC-52) satellite. The AFSPC-52 is a classified mission projected to launch in late Fiscal Year 2020, according to the Air Force.
Monday’s launch will be the vehicle’s first launch carrying a government payload, so the Air Force is paying close attention to how the vehicle performs during launch. Besides the 24 satellites, other passengers stuffed into the nosecone include an atomic clock built by NASA, a satellite designed to test a greener spacecraft propellant and a solar-sailing CubeSat dubbed LightSail 2 from The Planetary Society.
