Falcon 9 Starlink 5-1 Launch, Photo Courtesy SpaceX
Falcon 9 Launches 54 Starlink Satellites
December 28, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 54 Starlink satellites at 4:34 a.m. EST today from Launch Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for the eleventh time, having previously supported the GPS III-SV04, GPS III-SV05, Inspiration4, Axiom-1, Nilesat-301 and five 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 southeast of Cape Canaveral. The mission, designated Starlink 5-1, brings to a total of 3,666 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. SpaceX recently reported that Starlink currently has over one million subscribers.
Falcon 9 Starlink 5-1 Streak Shot, Photo Courtesy SpaceX
Falcon 9 Starlink 4-37 Launch, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 Launches 54 Starlink Satellites
December 17, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 54 Starlink satellites at 4:32 p.m. EST today from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for a record 15th time, having previously supported the DM-2, Anasis-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3 and nine 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 4-37, brings to a total of 3,612 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 4-37 Launch, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 O3B MPOWER 1/2 Launch, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 Launches Two Broadband Internet Satellites
December 16, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched two broadband Internet satellites at 5:48 p.m. EST today from Launch Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for the eighth time, having previously supported the CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat-5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Hotbird-13G and one Starlink mission. 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 east of Cape Canaveral. Today's mission, designated O3B MPOWER 1,2 carried two broadband Internet satellites built by Boeing and owned and operated by SES of Luxembourg. The satellites are designed to provide high-speed space-based Internet service to users worldwide as the first two next generation satellites in the SES broadband Internet constellation.
Falcon 9 O3B MPOWER 1/2 Launch, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 Hakuto-R Launch, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 Launches Hakuto-R Lunar Lander
December 11, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the Hakuto-R lunar lander at 2:38 a.m. EST today from Launch Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch was originally scheduled for November 30, 2022 but was postponed to allow additional checkouts of the rocket and data review. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for the fifth time, having previously supported the SES-22 and three Starlink missions. The booster was successfully recovered today with a landing at Landing Zone-2 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission, officially designated Ispace Hakuto-R Mission 1, features the Hakuto-R lunar lander. Hakuto-R, owned and operated by Japanese company Ispace, will attempt to become the first privately owned spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon.
Falcon 9 Hakuto-R Streak Shot, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Hakuto-R carries a number of payloads and experiments, including two small lunar rovers, one from the United Arab Emirates and one from the Japanese Space Agency. It will take Hakuto-R about four and a half months to reach the Moon, with a landing attempted in Atlas Crater in the Mara Frigoris (Sea of Cold) region. A hitchhiker payload for this mission is NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lunar Flashlight which will fly on its own, reaching an orbit around the Moon in about four months. The Lunar Flashlight's orbit will frequently take it within a distance of nine miles above the Moon's south pole, where it will use infrared beams to search for water ice on or beneath the lunar surface.
Falcon 9 Hakuto-R Downrange, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 OneWeb-15 Downrange, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
Falcon 9 Launches OneWeb-15 Payload
December 8, 2022 | Reported by Cliff Lethbridge
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the OneWeb-15 payload at 5:27 p.m. EST today from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The first stage booster employed today was being flown for the fourth time, having previously supported the CRS-24, Hotbird-13F and one Starlink mission. The booster was successfully recovered today with a landing at Landing Zone-1 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The OneWeb-15 payload consists of 40 OneWeb broadband Internet satellites, bringing to a total of 504 of the satellites launched to date. OneWeb needs 650 satellites to complete its first-generation broadband Internet network, intended to provide space-based Internet service to users worldwide.
Falcon 9 OneWeb-15 Downrange, Photo Courtesy Carleton Bailie/Spaceline
