Tag: launch

SpaceX Launches 56 More Starlink Satellites into LEO

UPI reports that SpaceX’s 21st launch this year “sent 56 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday afternoon.” The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellites lifted off at approximately 4 p.m. with the goal of entering the satellites into low-Earth orbit. The Starlink satellites “deployed from the rocket shortly after 5 p.m.” A total of 4,217 Starlink satellites “have been put into orbit since 2018,” with a possible 12,000 more already approved and 30,000 more requested.
Full Story (UPI)

 

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Starlink Mission

On Wednesday, March 29 at 4:01 p.m. ET, a Falcon 9 launched 56 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
(SpaceX; YouTube)

SpaceX Launches Two Separate Satellite Missions

Spaceflight Now reported that SpaceX “launched two Falcon 9 rockets in a span of a little more than four hours Friday, a record-setting day that began with the launch of 52 Starlink internet satellites from California and ended with the sunset liftoff of two SES television broadcast payloads from Florida.” The two missions were launched just over four hours apart and set a record “for the shortest span between two SpaceX Falcon 9 launches in the company’s history.” Space News reported that the payloads included SES-18 and SES-19, built by Northrop Grumman. The two satellites “are due to start services in June after using onboard hydrazine-fueled propulsion to reach their geostationary orbital slots.” SES-18 is “set to replace the operator’s aging SES-3 satellite at 103 degrees west,” while SES-19 is “heading to 135 degrees west to join the SES-22 satellite that SpaceX launched last year.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now); More Info (Space News)

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SES-18 and SES-19 Mission

On Friday, March 17 at 7:38 p.m. ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched SES-18 and SES-19 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

(SpaceX; YouTube)

NASA Sets Artemis II Launch for November 2024

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that NASA mission managers “said Tuesday they are targeting November 2024 for Artemis II, the mission to send four astronauts to orbit the moon but not land there.” However, wrinkles from the Artemis I mission still have to be ironed out; first among them is the “unexpected heat shield performance during the 5,000-degree reentry.” The uncrewed Artemis I flight “saw the successful launch of the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket to ever bring a payload to space.” Artemis II “looks to put humans on board the Orion capsule, and just how well the spacecraft can keep its passengers safe is at the top of NASA’s concerns.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

SpaceX Successfully Launches New Starlink Mini Satellites

UPI reports that SpaceX launched 21 “V2 Mini” satellites to add to their Starlink Internet constellation from Cape Canaveral on Monday evening. SpaceX announced “Liftoff!” in a tweet at 6:16 p.m. EST, “showing the Falcon 9 rocket lift off from pad 40 against the sunset.” The launch “was delayed earlier Monday to allow radiation levels to drop following a solar storm.” Starlink’s new satellite design, called “V2 Mini,” holds “four times the communications capacity of early generations of Starlink satellites, known as Version 1.5,” SpaceX said.
Full Story (UPI)

 

 Video

On Monday, February 27, at 6:13 p.m. ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 21 second-generation Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
(SpaceX; YouTube)

ULA Announces May Launch for First Vulcan Centaur Rocket

Space News reports that the “first launch of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket is now scheduled for no earlier than May 4, a date the company says is based on remaining tests of the rocket and its main engines as well as launch windows for its primary payload.” In a call with reporters Thursday, ULA CEO Tory Bruno “announced the date for the long-awaited inaugural flight of the rocket as the company gears up for a series of tests of the rocket at Space Launch Complex 41. The launch will carry Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, two demonstration satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband constellation and a payload for space memorial company Celestis.” Bruno said, “We are now targeting the fourth of May so we plan our manifest around that and be ready to fly that payload when it comes in.” According to Space News, “ULA will have a window of about four days to conduct the launch.”
Full Story (Space News)

SpaceX Awaits FAA Approval for Starship Orbital Test Flight

The Miami Herald reports that after “running through a successful test fire this month, SpaceX is set to fly its massive Starship and Super Heavy rocket, and is just waiting on the Federal Aviation Administration for the green light, according to one company official.” The company said the static fire test in which 31 of the rocket’s 33 engines performed as expected was the first and only necessary step towards an orbital test flight.
Full Story (Miami Herald)

SpaceX Launches from Each Coast

Spaceflight Now reported that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket “delivered 51 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit Friday after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, adding to SpaceX’s global broadband network that reaches all seven continents.” The Starlink 2-5 mission lifted off “from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg, a military spaceport about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.” Space News reported that SpaceX also launched a Falcon 9 carrying the Inmarsat-6 F2 (I-6 F2) satellite at 10:59 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. I-6 F2 separated “from the rocket about 32 minutes later, and will use onboard electric propulsion to get to its geostationary orbit slot over the Atlantic Ocean over the next several months.” Inmarsat said I-6 F2 “is slated to enter service in 2024 following rigorous in-orbit tests.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
More Info (Space News)

 

 Videos

On Friday, February 17 at 11:12 a.m. PT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 51 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
(SpaceX; YouTube)

On Friday, February 17 at 10:59 p.m. ET, SpaceX launched the Inmarsat I-6 F2 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
(SpaceX; YouTube)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Group from Space Coast

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites from the Space Coast early Sunday. A Falcon 9 with “55 of the internet satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:10 a.m.” All eight of the “Space Coast launches this year so far have been from SpaceX, which has also flown two missions from California on its way to what Elon Musk said could be 100 flights for the company for 2023.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

 

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On Sunday, February 12 at 12:10 a.m. ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 55 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida
(SpaceX; YouTube)

Space Force Launches GPS III SV06 Aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket

Inside Defense reports that the “Space Force successfully launched another Global Positioning System III-series satellite from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, the morning of Jan. 18 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.” The GPS III satellites, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, “provide up to three times greater accuracy and an eightfold increase in anti-jamming capabilities compared to earlier systems, Space Systems Command said in a press release.” In the release, Program Executive Officer for Military Communications & PNT Directorate Cordell DeLaPena Jr. said, “With the GPS III SV06 launch, GPS has accomplished another step towards Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)’s overall mission of modernizing capabilities for our civilians and military users while maintaining the performance and resiliency of our existing architecture.
Full Story (Inside Defense)

 
 
 

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches the GPS III Space Vehicle 06 mission January 18th at 7:24 a.m. ET
(SpaceX; YouTube)

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches Classified Mission for US Space Force

Fox Business reports SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket “lifted off for the first time this year on Sunday” at 5:56 p.m. ET, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, called USSF-67, delivered “a classified military payload to orbit for the United States Space Force.”  Approximately eight minutes after launch, the rocket’s “two side boosters disconnected and landed simultaneously at Cape Canaveral’s Landing Zones 1 and 2,” marking “the 163rd and 164th successful landings of an orbital-class rocket.” The mission also marked the fifth successful flight for SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket.
Full Story (Fox Business)
 
 
 

 

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Sunday, January 15, at 5:56 p.m. EST
(SpaceX; YouTube)