ISTANBUL 

Türkiye's first homegrown communications satellite Turksat 6A has been placed into the launch capsule, making it ready for takeoff, the Turkish transport and infrastructure minister announced on Monday. 

The satellite's journey will begin with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on X.

The satellite will be launched at 5.21 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (2121GMT) from SpaceX's Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida.

Turksat 6A is the first geostationary communications satellite built by Türkiye, with development led by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye's Space Technologies Research Institute and Turkish Aerospace Industries.

The satellite will operate at the 42 degrees East orbital position.