They’d kind of have to. Going straight north would be an overland path that passes a few thousand kilometer of USA. Going straight south means going over Cuba.
Iridium (and presumably other polar sattelites) launch into a high inclination orbit, and adjust to a polar orbit once they’re up there.
Wow, another Crew Dragon mission! The launch manifest is getting busy!
I wonder what trajectory they’ll take out of Florida? Would a dogleg maneuver be required to hit a polar orbit from the east coast?
They’d kind of have to. Going straight north would be an overland path that passes a few thousand kilometer of USA. Going straight south means going over Cuba.
Iridium (and presumably other polar sattelites) launch into a high inclination orbit, and adjust to a polar orbit once they’re up there.
F9 with Crew Dragon on top should have plenty of headroom for a dogleg, the dragon module is a relatively light payload.