CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE — Regardless of a severe thunderstorm warning and pushbacks, SpaceX successfully launched the SES O3b mPOWER mission on Friday evening.

The Falcon 9 rocket sent up two O3b mPOWER satellites to medium Earth orbit after it took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:12 p.m. EDT.

The first-stage booster, B1078, is still a little wet behind the landing fins. Its only mission was in March of this year of the Crew-6 launch.

After the stage separation, the rocket’s first stage landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that is out in the Atlantic Ocean.

Poor weather and delays

Spectrum News meteorologist Chris Gilson stated that a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for southern Brevard County until 6:15 p.m. EDT, causing concern for the launch. 

For the Friday evening launch of the O3b mPOWER satellites, weather conditions had improved somewhat, but the SpaceX launch team delayed the launch, originally for 30 minutes, and then later reset the time for liftoff to 6:16 p.m. EDT. It was supposed to go up at 5:12 p.m. EDT.

In the last few days, SpaceX had to push back its Falcon Heavy launch of the ViaSat-3 Americas mission due to poor weather, with a result of lightning striking the launch pad.

Earlier in the day, the 45th Weather Squadron had given a 20% chance of good launch weather for the O3b mPOWER mission, with the main concerns being: Cumulus cloud, surface electric fields, anvil cloud and lightning rules.

“Although instability is not quite as high as the last two days, strong to isolated severe thunderstorms are still possible in the afternoon and evening,” the agency stated in its forecast for the launch.

However, late Friday afternoon, SpaceX tweeted that the launch weather percentage grew to 70% favorable.

The original 88-minute launch window was set to open at 5:12 p.m. EDT. If the launch was pushed back, the next chance will be at the same time on Saturday, April 29.

About the mission

SES, a Luxembourgish-French satellite telecommunications company, will send up two satellites, where they will meet O3b mPOWER 1 and 2 at medium Earth orbit.

Eventually, after this launch, there will be two more O3b mPOWER satellites, SES said.

“SES's O3b mPOWER system will only need six satellites to deliver global high-performance connectivity services backed by industry-best service level agreements,” the company stated in a press release.

These satellites are designed to give communications and internet connectivity to businesses and governments.