Photo: Richard P. Gallagher / Florida Media Now
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying another group of Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center this morning in the predawn hours. Liftoff was at 06:37 AM EDT from Launch Complex 39A.
The booster used for this mission, B1073, completed its portion of the mission successfully a little more than eight minutes later when it touched down safely on the SpaceX drone ship ASDS ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’ east of Charleston on the Atlantic Ocean. The drone ship will now return to Port Canaveral after a few days, where the booster will be offloaded, transported to Space X’s ‘Hangar X’ facility at Kennedy Space Center. There it will be inspected, refurbished and prepared for its next mission.
Photo: Cal Foxton, Florida Media Now
At 07:34 SpaceX announced a successful second burn of the second stage of the Falcon 9 that it used for this mission, and at 07:41 AM the company announced a successful payload deployment of the Starlink satellites, indicating a successful end to the mission.
The Starlink satellites will now travel to the final orbital locations under their own power, and after commissioning, will join the other 6100+ active satellites in the Starlink constellation. Those satellites provide Internet connectivity for over 3.1 million people in over 100 countries and territories across the globe.
Launch Replay
Next Launch
NET Thursday, August 14, SpaceX will be back in action with a Falcon 9, this time from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station when the company plans to launch the WorldView Legion 3&4 satellites. Those satellites are owned and operated by Maxar, are used for Earth-imaging for Maxar’s customers.
- Date: NET August 14, 2024
- Organization: SpaceX
- Mission: WorldView Legion 3 & 4
- Rocket: Falcon 9
- Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Launch Window: 09:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
- Payload: Earth-observation satellites
Photo: Cal Foxton, Florida Media Now
