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[Update: Both launches successful. SpaceX tweeted that booster landing was successful, no word on SpaceX fairing recovery or either launch's satellite deployments.]
Wake up early Wednesday to see two launches within 15 minutes:
One Ariane 5. One Falcon 9. Fourteen satellites. It's a party.
The Western Hemisphere may host two launches within 15 minutes on Wednesday morning as both Arianespace and SpaceX prepare for satellite delivery missions. The launches are presently scheduled to occur between 7:25am ET (11:25 UTC) and 7:39am ET (11:39 UTC).
First up is Arianespace, with a mission launching from Kourou in French Guiana, over the Atlantic Ocean. This flight of the Ariane 5 ES rocket—the Ariane 5 fleet's third mission in 2018—will send four Galileo satellites into medium Earth orbit (at an altitude of 22,922km) for the European Commission. These satellites will form part of Europe's own global navigation system constellation.
[Ariane 5 live stream on YouTube. Scheduled for 7:25am ET (11:25 UTC); stream scheduled to start 25 minutes before launch.]
[...] Speaking of SpaceX, its rocket has a launch time less than 15 minutes after the scheduled Ariane 5 liftoff. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch from the west coast of the United States and seeks to deliver 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into a polar orbit 625km above the Earth.
This will be the third flight of the Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 rocket and, if the vehicle launches on Wednesday, it would be the company's second launch in just over two days.
Wednesday's flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California will also feature two separate recovery attempts. The Just Read the Instructions droneship will serve as a mobile landing platform for the Falcon 9's first stage, and the smaller Mr. Steven vessel—now equipped with a larger net—will attempt to catch one half of the rocket's payload fairing.
[SpaceX live stream on YouTube. Scheduled for 7:39am ET (11:39 UTC); stream scheduled to start 15 minutes before launch.]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 25 2018, @01:09PM
They have also been posting "Rocket Report" roundups pretty often (weekly?) that cover most everything you need to know.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/07/rocket-report-small-sat-space-race-goes-global-spacex-nearing-demo-flight/ [arstechnica.com]
For example, Vector Space Systems has an Alaskan spaceport and say they are launching by the end of 2018.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]