James Dean

FLORIDA TODAY

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule are being prepared for a blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with International Space Station supplies very early on Monday, July 18.

The targeted 12:45 a.m. launch will be the first since December in which SpaceX tries to land the rocket's first stage back at the Cape, on a reinforced concrete pad called "Landing Zone 1" (the former Launch Complex 13).

SpaceX landed its first Falcon booster there on the evening of Dec. 21, and has since landed three more on the deck of a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

The booster landed in December has returned to SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, where the company plans to display it outside as a historic monument. It's the first liquid-fueled rocket to be recovered intact after boosting a mission to orbit, and proved that landing large rockets for reuse was possible.

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The Federal Aviation Administration has granted SpaceX permission to build a 160-foot-tall display. The FAA's approval was needed because the tall rocket stage will stand not far from the Hawthorne Municipal Airport runway.

"It would be the highest object for quite a distance around the airport," CEO Elon Musk explained back in April.

The FAA has determined that "the structure would have no substantial adverse effect on the safe and efficient utilization of the navigable airspace by aircraft or on the operation of air navigation facilities," records show.

However, the monument must incorporate red obstruction lights to "to make it more conspicuous to airmen flying in VFR (visual flight rules) weather conditions between sunset and sunrise."

SpaceX has not said when the rocket will be unveiled.

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New Soyuz, crew arrive at ISS

Astronauts from three nations, including NASA's Kate Rubins, arrived safely at the International Space Station early Saturday to complete a successful first flight by an upgraded version of Russia's Soyuz spacecraft.

"Textbook arrival for the brand new Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft," said NASA TV commentator Rob Navias after the 12:06 a.m. EDT docking, as the spacecraft were flying 254 miles above the South Pacific. "A perfect shakedown mission for this upgraded Soyuz vehicle."

After launching Wednesday night from Kazakhstan, Rubins arrived with Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to start a stay of at least four months in microgravity.

They joined NASA's Jeff Williams, commander of the now six-person Expedition 48 crew, and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin.

Navy satellite has problem in orbit

Two weeks after launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a military communications satellite has run into trouble before reaching its final orbit, the Navy reported Friday.

The Navy’s fifth Mobile User Objective System satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, was gradually maneuvering itself to an orbit 22,300 miles over the equator when an unspecified problem put its progress on hold.

“The satellite experienced an anomaly that required the transfer maneuver to be temporarily halted,” said Steven Davis, a spokesman for the Naval Warfare Systems Command.

Launched June 24 by United Launch Alliance’s most powerful Atlas V rocket, the 15,000-pound satellite is the last in a constellation designed to upgrade communications for mobile troops with smart phone-like capabilities to talk and send messages simultaneously from almost anywhere on the globe.

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The fifth MUOS spacecraft is supposed to actively support an older satellite network while serving as a spare in orbit for the more modern features, which won’t be widely available for a year or two because of delays developing compatible ground radios.

The satellite had been expected to reach a position above Hawaii to begin tests on July 3. The Navy said the satellite is now in a “stabilized, safe intermediate orbit" while next moves are planned, and the delay reaching the proper orbit will not impact Department of Defense satellite communications.

The $7.7 billion MUOS program includes the five satellites, each designed to last at least 15 years, four ground stations and related software. The satellites are equipped with large, unfurlable mesh antennas provided by Melbourne-based Harris Corp.

Moon Express update

A local company vying to fly the first private mission to the moon will update its plans Tuesday during a talk before the National Space Club Florida Committee in Cape Canaveral.

Bob Richards, co-founder and CEO of Moon Express, will discuss “Moon Express 2017: A Private Mission to the Moon” during the luncheon presentation at the Radisson Resort at the Port.

Moon Express hopes to launch a small robotic lander next year on Rocket Lab’s new Electron rocket, a flight that could win the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE.

For more information visit www.nscfl.org.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.