Weather clears as SpaceX launches European satellite

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Jul 1, 2025

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SpaceX was facing a poor forecast for its Tuesday launch attempt of a European satellite on the Space Coast, but the skies cleared and the rocket lifted off right on time.

A Falcon 9 on the MTGS1 mission carrying the second of EUMETSAT’s third generation of weather satellites took off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 5:04 p.m. Eastern time.

The forecast had only predicted a 20% chance for good conditions, but the predicted coastal rain threat didn’t materialize and the countdown proceeded hitting the opening of what had been a 150-minute launch window.

This marked the ninth flight of the first-stage booster, which also flew two human spaceflights — Crew-9 and Fram2 — as well as the Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 that sent a successful lander to the moon. It made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic.

The European satellite aims to sample the atmosphere at hyperspectral resolution with an infrared sounder that will look at temperature and humidity profiles.

Also on board is European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, which aims to monitor key air quality trace gases and aerosols over Europe.

This was the 57th launch from the Space Coast for 2025, with all but three coming from SpaceX.

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