Today at 10:21 AM ET, a Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from Cape Canaveral, carrying supplies to the International Space Station. Shortly afterwards, SpaceX will once again attempt to land the first stage of the rocket on a barge floating out in the Atlantic Ocean. After two almost-but-not-quite attempts, the company is hoping for a big win this time.
As the weather in Central Florida is a bit unpredictable, and things are especially touchy with a rocket landing on the line, but all systems are go. If SpaceX can pull this off, it'll obviously be a huge win for the company, and a way to drive down the cost of a launch by ensuring the feasibility of reusable rockets. It's also debuting its second barge, the Of Course I Still Love You ship, just in time for this launch.
If the plan doesn't succeed this time, the company will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on August 9 and try a land-based rocket landing, then attempt a drone ship landing shortly after. There's some speculation that SpaceX's first barge, Just Read the Instructions, is being readied for the west coast landing attempt. Prior to this weekend's launch, Of Course I Still Love You had been announced as the west coast barge.
The official NASA stream is embedded below, or you can watch the launch from SpaceX's stream here—though, per usual, the live feed may cut out before the landing attempt and it'll be a day or two before we get the really good stuff, whether it's good or bad.
