When & where is the next rocket launch worldwide?

[guxdude]

I believe lat/long is provided so you could use this if you want to get the local time at the location of launch:

Developer Guide  |  Time Zone API  |  Google Developers

EDIT: Nevermind, you have to pay a minimum $5/month for this service.

[WCmore]

T-99 minutes to launch…
(the window is precise here, with only one shot to launch)

There is a live feed here.

Currently, the launch is a “No-Go”, but they expect the weather to clear…

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Cape Canaveral weather conditions on WUnderground.

[WCmore]

Falcon 9’s pilot’s point of view…

[WCmore]

Weather has been given a GO!

[SergL]

Made sure to time errands run to be back and have drink in hand for this!!

[WCmore]

T-19 minutes…

Fuel is almost filled

[WCmore]

T-5 minutes

Starting to “chill”…

[WCmore]

Are we going to see INSIDE the cockpit as it takes off?

I hope… There is usually multiple camera angles

[WCmore]

Yes I would of been surprised if they showed inside the actual cockpit during lift off, never seen that, I guess they do that for security reasons, as it’s quite a critical moment, they want to keep that in-house.

I think with the latest tech, the launch is 99% hands-free for the astronauts inside…
(mostly just “side-swiping” to see a different display)

[SergL]

I think with the latest tech, the launch is 99% hands-free for the astronauts inside…
(mostly just “side-swiping” to see a different display)

I made that same comment. For the most part they just sat there and watched the screens. Very cool none the less.

[SergL]

So as a follow up the entire piston worked great except for the spoken section gave me a verbal error through Alexa but I think thats an issue beyond WebCore. Very happy with how it all worked out

[WCmore]

I don’t use Echo Speaks, so that bit was just added for you guys to play around with.
(any normal voice command using that Expression should work as expected)

[guxdude]

So where do we stand on this? @WCmore are you going to take a stab at a two piston approach? I don’t want to put too much work into this if you (Or someone else) are already working on it. If there is anything you would like me to help with I’ll be happy to pitch in.

[WCmore]

For a piston to make good use of an API, the coder (me) should have a good understanding of how the API functions… How often it updates… Under what circumstances are nulls returned etc.

So my current piston works well (with one minor update coming tomorrow)… but with the size restraints, I cannot add much more without running out of room. So a two piston sounds like the way to go. (I’ve left out too many features already).

This also means that I may (should) monitor the API for a bit… So my coding afterwards is professional…

[WCmore]

If you want to customize it yourself, please feel free.
(Any time spent learning or having fun is time well spent)

Me personally?
I need to become better aware of a few other dataPoints that sometimes returns unexpected results.
(For example: China’s launch in an hour does not have any weather data in their API:)

… so my current piston shows:

Which, although technically accurate, I don’t like it…
I can code it to look much better in the hover text.
(if I had enough space to code, that is)

[WCmore]

It’s worth noting that… a second China launch was also inserted at nearly the last minute…

[WCmore]

maybe we need more calls to the API?

I can see this perspective… but also… with China slipping in at the last moment, and intentionally posting no relevant data… I am wondering if it is worth it… Maybe I should code it to update every 6 hours… With a bonus update after a launch… Hmmm…

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For those curious, I do have an ulterior motive: I am really trying to respect the owners of the API… The more frequent our requests, the higher their monthly bill.

Surely 4-5 times a day is sufficient?

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Edit:

Bonus points because “Every 6 hours” means every import of the piston will fire at a different time!

[SergL]

Mine is still showing some Florida Starlink data. Need to take a look to see if I screwed up a refresh interval somewhere.

5/31/2020, 8:56:50 AM +206ms
+10163ms ║Piston waited at a semaphore for 10029ms

5/31/2020, 7:57:20 AM +77ms
+1739ms ║The next launch is scheduled for Sun, May 31 2020 @ 3:57:21 AM EDT (-4 hrs)
+1739ms ║Starlink-8
+1739ms ║SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 9, from Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, on pad SLC-40.
+1739ms ║A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Starlink-8 mission. The launch date is currently targeted for June 03, 2020 (UTC).
+1739ms ║nullVariable ‘Tags:_tags’ not found

5/31/2020, 7:37:32 AM +718ms
+1629ms ║The next launch is scheduled for Sun, May 31 2020 @ 3:37:34 AM EDT (-4 hrs)
+1629ms ║Starlink-8
+1629ms ║SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 9, from Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, on pad SLC-40.
+1630ms ║A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Starlink-8 mission. The launch date is currently targeted for June 03, 2020 (UTC).
+1630ms ║nullVariable ‘Tags:_tags’ not found

5/31/2020, 7:16:56 AM +810ms
+2118ms ║The next launch is scheduled for Sun, May 31 2020 @ 3:16:58 AM EDT (-4 hrs)
+2118ms ║Starlink-8
+2118ms ║SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 9, from Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, on pad SLC-40.
+2118ms ║A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Starlink-8 mission. The launch date is currently targeted for June 03, 2020 (UTC).
+2118ms ║nullVariable ‘Tags:_tags’ not found

5/30/2020, 5:56:16 PM +139ms
+531ms ║The next launch is scheduled for Thu, Jun 11 2020 @ 12:43:00 AM EDT (11.3 days)
+531ms ║"Don’t Stop Me Now" (ELaNa 32)
+531ms ║Rocket Lab plans to launch Electron, from Rocket Lab Launch Complex, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, on pad LC-1.
+531ms ║A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch the “Don’t Stop Me Now” (ELaNa 32) mission on Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 4:43 AM (UTC).
+531ms ║nullVariable ‘Tags:_tags’ not found

5/30/2020, 5:36:17 PM +172ms
+2337ms ║The next launch is scheduled for Thu, Jun 11 2020 @ 12:43:00 AM EDT (11.3 days)
+2337ms ║"Don’t Stop Me Now" (ELaNa 32)
+2337ms ║Rocket Lab plans to launch Electron, from Rocket Lab Launch Complex, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, on pad LC-1.
+2337ms ║A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch the “Don’t Stop Me Now” (ELaNa 32) mission on Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 4:43 AM (UTC).
+2337ms ║nullVariable ‘Tags:_tags’ not found

5/30/2020, 5:16:16 PM +142ms
+2309ms ║The next launch is scheduled for Sat, May 30 2020 @ 3:22:00 PM EDT (-2 hrs)
+2310ms ║Crew Dragon Demo-2 (DM-2)
+2310ms ║SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 9, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on pad LC-39A.
+2310ms ║A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Crew Dragon Demo-2 (DM-2) mission on Saturday, May 30, 2020 at 7:22 PM (UTC).
+2310ms ║For the first time since the last flight of the Space Shuttle in 2011, U.S. astronauts will go to orbit from American soil. As part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 will launch the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.Variable ‘Tags:_tags’ not found

[WCmore]

Mine is still showing some Florida Starlink data

The “next launch is scheduled for” section came out wrong because the API only listed the day as 3 instead of 03… So I need to tweak my code a bit to account for that.

Also, I just noticed a missing quote for tags, so that was my bad.

Expect an update in about 20 minutes…

[WCmore]

My piston in the original post has been updated with a handful of small tweaks.
(the changes are mostly date and time related)

I also limited the location in the tile to the first 20 characters, so it will always be legible…
(the hover text will still show the full location name)

@guxdude, it’s worth mentioning that I had to tweak your {tzOffset} to make it work consistently.

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Note for updaters… Please don’t forget to change the first line after “execute” to a different minute than 6 so we spread out our queries… (and of course, delete or pause your old piston)

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New screenshot: