Falcon 9 Starlink 4-35 Launch, Photo Courtesy SpaceX
Falcon 9 Launches 52 Starlink Satellites
September 24, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 52 Starlink satellites at 7:32 p.m. EDT today from Launch Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for the fourth time, having previously supported the SES-22 and two Starlink missions. The booster was successfully recovered today with a landing on the "A Shortfall of Gravitas" drone ship, positioned on the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral. The mission, designated Starlink 4-35, brings to a total of 3,399 Starlink satellites launched to date, although not all of these are operational or still in orbit. Starlink is a SpaceX-owned and operated constellation of broadband Internet satellites, intended to provide space-based Internet service to users worldwide. The service is currently available in 47 markets worldwide, including all seven continents.
Falcon 9 Starlink 4-35 Streak Shot, Photo Courtesy SpaceX
Falcon 9 Starlink 4-34 Launch, Photo Courtesy SpaceX
Falcon 9 Launches 54 Starlink Satellites
September 18, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 54 Starlink satellites at 8:18 p.m. EDT today from Launch Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This was the sixth consecutive attempt for this launch, having previously experienced five consecutive days of scrubs due to bad weather. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for the sixth time, having previously supported the CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat-5B, Crew-4 and CRS-25 missions. The booster was successfully recovered today with a landing on the "Just Read the Instructions" drone ship positioned on the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral. The mission, designated Starlink 4-34, brings to a total of 3,347 Starlink satellites launched to date, although not all of these are operational or still in orbit. Starlink is a SpaceX-owned and operated constellation of broadband Internet satellites, intended to provide space-based Internet service to users worldwide.
Falcon 9 Starlink 4-34 Streak Shot, Photo Courtesy SpaceX
Falcon 9 Starlink 4-2 Launch, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 Launches 34 Starlink Satellites And Rideshare
September 10, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 34 Starlink satellites and a Rideshare payload at 9:20 p.m. EDT today from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for a record 14th time, having previously supported the DM-2, Anasis-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3 and eight Starlink missions. The booster was successfully recovered today with a landing on the "A Shortfall of Gravitas" drone ship, positioned on the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral. The mission, designated Starlink 4-2, brings to a total of 3,293 Starlink satellites launched to date, although not all of these are operational or still in orbit. Starlink is a SpaceX-owned and operated constellation of broadband Internet satellites, intended to provide space-based Internet service to users worldwide. Today's launch also carried a Rideshare payload, the BlueWalker-3 satellite. Owned and operated by AST SpaceMobile, the satellite is a testbed for a proposed space-based cellular telephone network. To accommodate orbiting the Starlink satellites and Rideshare payload, the Falcon 9 employed five burns of its second stage for the first time.
Falcon 9 Starlink 4-2 Streak Shot, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 Starlink 4-20 Streak Shot, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 Launches 51 Starlink Satellites And Rideshare
September 4, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 51 Starlink satellites and a Rideshare payload at 10:09 p.m. EDT today from Launch Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for the seventh time, having previously supported the Arabsat-6A, STP-2, COSMO SkyMed-FM2, KPLO and two Starlink missions. The booster was successfully recovered today with a landing on the "Just Read the Instructions" drone ship, positioned on the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral. The mission, designated Starlink 4-20, brings to a total of 3,259 Starlink satellites launched to date, although not all of these are operational or still in orbit. Starlink is a SpaceX-owned and operated constellation of broadband Internet satellites, intended to provide space-based Internet service to users worldwide. Today's Falcon 9 launch also carried a Rideshare payload, the SHERPA-LTC2. It is an orbital transfer vehicle which hosts Boeing's Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission, a test of a new precursor for a proposed broadband Internet satellite constellation.
Falcon 9 Starlink 4-20 Streak Shot, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
SLS On Launch Pad 39B, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
SLS Artemis-I Launch Scrubbed For Second Time
September 3, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
Launch of a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis-I mission scheduled for 2:17 p.m. EDT today during a two-hour launch window has been scrubbed. Teams encountered a liquid hydrogen leak while loading the propellant into the rocket's core stage. Multiple troubleshooting efforts to address the area of the leak by reseating a seal in the quick disconnect where liquid hydrogen is fed into the rocket did not fix the issue and a scrub was called about three hours prior to the opening of the launch window. A launch attempt was scrubbed on August 29, 2022 due to a faulty temperature sensor on Engine Number 3. A rescheduled launch date has yet to be announced. The next official opportunity for launch is September 19, 2022 but it is possible that the launch will slip to early October, 2022 depending on repairs and whether or not the rocket will need to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for maintenance. Artemis-I is an unmanned test flight of an Orion spacecraft around the Moon.
SLS On Launch Pad 39B, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
