SpaceX will try again Wednesday to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after a last-minute scrub Monday because of poor weather. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A is scheduled for 10:13 a.m. EDT, at the opening of an 85-minute window.
The rocket is carrying ViaSat-3 F3, a six metric ton communications satellite that will head to geosynchronous transfer orbit and complete the ViaSat-3 series. Deployment is expected nearly five hours after liftoff if the mission stays on schedule.
The 45th Weather Squadron is calling for a 90 percent chance of favorable conditions during the window, with thick clouds the main concern. SpaceX’s previous attempt on Monday was scrubbed at the last minute for weather, making Wednesday’s shot the first fresh opportunity to send the mission airborne from the Cape.
The flight uses side boosters 1072 and 1075, with 1072 flying for the second time and 1075 for the 22nd. Both are set to return to Landing Zone 2 and Landing Zone 40, while the core stage, booster B1098, will not be recovered and is expected to be discarded in the Atlantic Ocean.
For Viasat, the launch is another step in a satellite program meant to expand high-speed internet service for aircraft. Dave Abrahamian said that once the spacecraft enters service, more airline customers should offer free airborne WiFi, adding that passengers will be able to stream Netflix at 4K in the sky. He also said Falcon Heavy is more powerful than Atlas 5, giving the spacecraft a better transfer orbit for electric propulsion.
Abrahamian said orbit raising to the operating position at 158.55 degrees East along the equator should take about two months, followed by at least a couple of months of deployment stages and checkouts before Boeing turns the vehicle over to Viasat for operational use. The company’s ViaSat-3 F2 flew on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in November 2025 and is still finishing on-orbit checkout before entering service.
The ViaSat-3 F3 mission is the 12th flight of a Falcon Heavy rocket, which debuted in 2018. It is also one of two Falcon Heavy missions that have carried ViaSat-3 satellites, underscoring how the rocket’s 5.1 million pounds of thrust has become part of Viasat’s plan to move heavier spacecraft into more favorable transfer orbits. For background on the mission, see SpaceX’s earlier Falcon Heavy launch plan with ViaSat-3 Flight 3 at
What happens next is straightforward: if the weather holds, SpaceX will try to send the rocket up Wednesday morning and let the boosters do the rest. If clouds build in again, the company will be left waiting for another narrow window to move the satellite toward the position where Viasat says it can begin making that promise of fast in-flight WiFi real.