KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Today, Sept. 23, we media had the opportunity for an up close visit to Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and set up our remote cameras to photograph the launch of the NASA NOAA joint endeavor to launch a trio of ambitious new space weather science missions on Wednesday, Sept. 24 led by IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) – which is an observatory designed to study space weather and explore and map the boundaries of our solar neighborhood a region dubbed the heliosphere.

Enjoy our prelaunch launch pad photos taken at pad 39A by the Space UpClose team of Ken Kremer and Jean Wright covering the launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Press Site during remote camera setup.  Threatening weather held off just long enough before a phase 2 lightning alert.

Liftoff of the 3 NASA NOAA missions on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for 7:30 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, Sept. 24, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

IMAP is an observatory designed to study space weather and explore and map the boundaries of our solar neighborhood.

Launching with IMAP are two rideshare missions, NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1), both of which will provide valuable new insight into space weather and its effects on our planet.

Deployments from the upper stage begin at 83 min after liftoff with IMAP being first

Falcon 9 will launch IMAP, Carruthers and Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 into a transfer orbit that will take it to the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange Point – a gravitationally stable region 1 million miles or 1.5 million kilometers from Earth (directly between Earth and the Sun) where the Sun and the Earth’s gravity essentially balance each other out.

IMAP and Carruthers are mostly focused on gathering new basic science measurements of the heliosphere and the Earth exosphere – but will also contribute to space weather predictions.

Whereas the Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 is an operational mission focused on gathering critical data to make space weather predictions.

The lead time for Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 is 2 days before the solar wind and flares and coronal mass ejections reach Earth and then a 20 minute turn around time to feed to data to the vast user community.

This will be the second flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1096.2

It previously supported KF-01.

Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship (JRTI) , which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

You can watch the launch live on NASA and SpaceX

Watch NASA Launch Coverage!

Detailed countdown coverage: x.com/NASAKennedy

Live launch broadcast: starting at 6:40 am EDT on NASA+ and Amazon Prime

Mission blog: science.nasa.gov/blogs/imap

NASA will provide launch coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more, beginning at 6:40 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.

NASA’s Spanish launch coverage begins at 6:40 a.m. on NASA+, and the agency’s Spanish-language YouTube channel.

Updates about mission milestones also will be posted on social media:

X: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASASolarSystem, @NOAASatellies

Facebook: NASA, NASA Kennedy, NASA Solar System, NOAA Satellites

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASASolarSystem, @NOAASatellites

IMAP, or the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, is a NASA heliophysics mission that will map the boundaries of the heliosphere: the large bubble created by the solar wind that encapsulates our entire solar system. IMAP will study how the heliosphere interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond and will support real-time observations of the solar wind and energetic particles, which can produce hazardous conditions near Earth.

The two rideshares on board the mission are NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1.

All 3 will head to the Earth-Sun L1 point.

LAUNCH, LANDING, AND DEPLOYMENT

All Times Approximate

Hr/Min/Sec  Event

00:01:12        Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)

00:02:29        1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)

00:02:32        1st and 2nd stages separate

00:02:40        2nd stage engine starts

00:03:12        Fairing separation

00:06:37        1st stage entry burn start

00:07:07        1st stage entry burn ends

00:07:52        2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)

00:08:20        1st stage landing burn start

00:08:45        1st stage landing

01:12:28        2nd stage engine starts (SES-2)

01:13:30        2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2)

01:23:51        IMAP deploys

01:30:26        Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 deploys

01:36:46        Carruthers Geocorona Observatory deploys

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