ViaSat-3 F3 Launch Thread
ViaSat-3 F3 Launch Thread
Well folks, after a year and a half, we get another Falcon Heavy launch!
| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2026-04-29 14:13:00 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled for (local) | 2026-04-29 10:13 (EDT) |
| Launch site | LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida. |
| Launch vehicle | Falcon Heavy |
| Center | 1098-1 (expendable) |
| Booster | 1072-2 (LZ-2) |
| Booster | 1075-22 (LZ-40) |
| Customer | ViaSat |
| Payload | ViaSat-3 F3 |
| Target Orbit | Geostationary Earth Orbit |
Livestreams
| Stream | Link |
|---|---|
| Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3rYiKPViSk (scrub) |
| Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZLs184OBwE (scrub) |
| NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sDcNKbJwuo (scrub) |
| The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMpsWSAnLro (scrub) |
| Avid Space | https://www.youtube.com/@LabPadre/streams (scrub) |
| Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNo6A3th9WU (scrub) |
| SpaceX | (scrub) |
| The Space Devs | https://www.youtube.com/@thespacedevs/videos |
Stats
Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:
☑️ 1st launch from LC-39A this year
☑️ 133 days, 0:30:50 turnaround for this pad
☑️ 1st Falcon Heavy launch this year, 12th overall
☑️ 621st and 622nd Falcon recovery attempts
☑️ 155th consecutive successful Falcon 9 / FH launch (if successful)
☑️ 51st SpaceX mission this year, 661st overall (excluding Starship test flights)
☑️ 51st SpaceX launch this year, 671st overall (including Starship test flights)
Payload info:
ViaSat-3 F3
The ViaSat-3 class of Ka-band satellites is expected to provide unprecedented capabilities in terms of service speed and flexibility for a satellite platform. The first two satellites will focus on the Americas and on Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), respectively, with the third satellite planned for the APAC region, completing Viasat's global service coverage. Each ViaSat-3 class satellite is expected to deliver more than 1 terabit per second of network capacity and to leverage high levels of flexibility to dynamically direct capacity to where customers are located.
Launch vehicle was switched from Ariane 64 to Falcon Heavy due to delays in Ariane 6 development as well as the re-manifestation of several payloads from Russian launchers to Ariane vehicles after Russia invaded Ukraine.