SpaceX is gearing up for an exciting evening of rocket launches, aiming for an ambitious launch cadence with the potential for three missions in under five hours. The company plans to send off the first two Falcon 9 rockets from Florida's Space Coast, followed by the last mission taking place at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The first mission on the schedule is the Eutelsat 36D mission, set to liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The launch window opens at 5:52 p.m. EDT (2152 UTC) and lasts for three hours and 52 minutes. Spaceflight Now will provide live coverage starting approximately one hour prior to launch.

For this particular mission, the Falcon 9 first stage booster, with the tail number B1076, is making its 12th launch attempt. It has previously supported missions such as the 26th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-26) Dragon flight to the International Space Station, Intelsat IS-40e, and Ovzon-3. The booster is expected to land on the SpaceX droneship 'Just Read the Instructions' in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff. If successful, this would mark the 76th landing on the droneship, making it the 289th booster landing to date for SpaceX.

The payload for the Eutelsat 36D mission is the Eutelsat 36D satellite, supplied by Airbus. The satellite, measuring 4m x 5m x 4m, arrived in Florida onboard Airbus' BelugaXL plane, based on the A330-200 platform. It is the 22nd geostationary satellite built by Airbus for Eutelsat and is equipped with 70 physical Ku-band transponders. The satellite is based on Airbus' Eurostar Neo satellite bus and will succeed the Eutelsat 36B satellite at the 36° East position.

Eutelsat highlighted that the Eutelsat 36D satellite will not only deliver over 1,100 TV channels to millions of homes in Africa and Eurasia but has also been selected by Airbus Defense and Space to carry its latest Ultra High Frequency (UHF) payload for supporting communications over the EMEA region.

Following the Eutelsat 36D mission, SpaceX has two Starlink satellite missions planned. The first, Starlink 6-45, is scheduled for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 9:02 p.m. EDT (0102 UTC). The third Falcon 9 flight of the night is intended to launch from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at 7:30 p.m. PDT (10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 UTC). However, this mission has already faced delays due to a major storm system hitting Southern California, potentially causing further postponements until Sunday.

SpaceX's rapid launch cadence showcases the company's commitment to efficient and frequent space missions, pushing the boundaries of space exploration and telecommunications.