Tag: December 17

SpaceX Launches 54 New Starlink Satellites into Orbit

CBS News reported that SpaceX “launched its third Falcon 9 rocket in less than two days Saturday, sending 54 Starlink internet satellites into orbit using a recycled first-stage booster which was making its record 15th flight.” This was “also the California rocket builder’s 59th launch so far this year, nearly doubling its 2021 record.” The 54 Starlink satellites “were released in a batch, pushing the total number of Starlink satellites launched to date by SpaceX to 3,612, as SpaceX continues to populate its globe-spanning constellation of laser-linked broadband relay stations.” While “not all of the satellites are still operational or in orbit…space statistician Jonathan McDowell estimates 3,230 were operational going into Saturday’s flight.”
Full Story (CBS News)
 
 
 

 

 Video

SpaceX launches 54 Starlink Satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A on Saturday, December 17, 2022, at 4:32 p.m. ET.
(SpaceX; YouTube)

SpaceX Conducts Third Falcon 9 Launch in Less Than 24 Hours

Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX completed its third Falcon 9 launch in less than 24 hours with a launch for one of its oldest customers: Luxembourg-based communications company, SES. Liftoff of the O3b mPOWER 7 and 8 satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center happened near sunset at 5:26 p.m. EST (2226 UTC), which was the close of a nearly 1.5-hour-long launch window. It was be the 90th orbital launch from the Florida spaceport comprising of Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

 

Video

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches pair of O3b mPOWER satellites from Kennedy Space Center (Launch at 0:59:21 mark)
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)