CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — Despite weather concerns and delays, SpaceX successfully launched the Amazonas Nexus satellite mission on Monday night. 

Falcon 9’s launched the HISPASAT’s Amazonas Nexus mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

SpaceX targeted Monday, Feb. 6 at 5:32 p.m. EST for the takeoff time but it pushed back the launch window to 8:32 p.m. EST, the company confirmed in a tweet. It did not state why the launch was delayed.

Poor weather was a concern for the launch, which was originally set for Sunday at 5:32 p.m. EST, but it was pushed back twice that evening — 7:32 p.m. EST and then again at 9:32 p.m. EST — before the mission was scrubbed by SpaceX.

For Sunday’s launch, the 45th Weather Squadron on Saturday gave a “70 -> 45%” chance of good launch weather.

The 45th Weather Squadron kept an eye on a cold front that eventually interfered with Sunday’s launch.

There were concerns of showers and storms for Sunday morning and afternoon, stated the 45th Weather Squadron, which might have caused “a higher probability of violation at the beginning of the (launch) window, with the primary concerns being the Cumulus Cloud Rule, Thick Cloud Layers Rule, and the Disturbed Weather Rule.”

Even Spectrum News meteorologist Zachary Covey confirmed that rain and poor weather conditions were the primary issues for Sunday’s launch and rocket recovery.

“Even if the weather holds out at the Cape, recovery weather will be tricky with the rocket returning on a ship out in the Atlantic. And that weather will likely scrub the launch. It's most likely the launch gets scrubbed until tomorrow,” Spectrum News 13’s meteorologist Zachary Covey stated on Sunday morning,” he stated on Sunday.

But the launch did happen and first-stage booster B1073 handled the job. It has successfully completed five launches before HISPASAT's:

• ispace's HAKUTO-R and NASA's Lunar Flashlight
• SES-22 telecommunications satellite
• 3 Starlink satellite missions

The first-stage booster landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that was out in the Atlantic Ocean.

About the mission

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will send up the Amazonas Nexus satellite mission. Based in Spain, the HISPASAT company is a satellite communications operator that provides TV, cellular and internet access and services.

The company stated the satellite will be sent to a geostationary orbit to begin a journey that will be more than six months long until its final orbital position at 61º west.

Once there, it will replace the company’s Amazonas 2 satellite and expand its capacity.

“The Amazon Nexus will cover the entire American continent, Greenland and the North and South Atlantic corridors and will be focused on connectivity services in remote areas and in air and maritime mobility environments. This satellite represents a new era for the services provided by HISPASAT, as it is equipped with a state-of-the-art Digital Transparent Processor (DTP) that will allow it to increase its geographic flexibility in the event of changes in the commercial scenarios initially proposed,” according to HISPASAT in a press release about the launch.

Watch the launch