Forecast good for Sunday night SpaceX launch

James Dean | Florida Today

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The forecast looks favorable for a late Sunday launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying commercial communications satellites for two international customers.

Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40 is targeted for 10:50 p.m. ET Sunday, the opening of a window that extends to 11:33 p.m.

There's a 70 percent chance of favorable weather during the window.

"The primary weather concerns for launch Sunday evening are cumulus clouds associated with coastal showers and lingering thick clouds," the forecast released Saturday by the Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron said.

Conditions would improve slightly for a launch attempt late Monday, if necessary.

The Falcon 9 will attempt to launch a pair of commercial communications satellites for Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite, placing them in orbits more than 22,000 miles above the equator.

Also Sunday, two NASA astronauts will perform a spacewalk outside the International Space Station — the third in just over a week.

Astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Terry Virts plan to start their 6 1/2-hour excursion at 7:10 a.m.

NASA on Friday gave a "go" for the spacewalk to proceed, after determining that a small amount of water that leaked into Virts' helmet during the last spacewalk posed no danger.