Covering All Things Florida
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 tonight from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and sent another twenty-three Starlink satellites to orbit. Liftoff occurred at 09:22 PM EDT on a crisp, clear spring evening on the Space Coast.
Note: Originally published by Charles Boyer at Talk of Titusville
Sunday night saw an on-time launch for SpaceX’s latest Falcon 9 mission known as Bandwagon-1. The rideshare mission, SpaceX’s 35th of 2024, carried 11 satellites to a mid-inclination orbit (45 degrees) for six different companies. A mid-inclination orbit places satellites over populated areas rather than providing global coverage seen with standard polar orbits.
SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets to orbit Saturday: first, at 5:52 PM EDT Eutelsat 36D from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, then at 9:30 PM, Starlink 6-45 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — a three-hour, thirty-minute gap between launches. The mission marked the second of the company’s “doubleheader” launches this year.
Opening Day in Major League Baseball was just a couple of days ago, so it’s fitting in a way that the Space Coast will get its own kind of double-header tomorrow: SpaceX is planning to launch Eutelsat 36D from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center between 5:52 PM and 8:00 PM EDT, and then between 9:00 PM and 10:31 PM EDT, another batch of Internet connectivity satellites with the Starlink 6-46 mission from their pad at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
By now, almost everyone has heard of SpaceX’s Starlink. However, it is lesser known that SpaceX and their subsidiary, Starlink, now have two major government- and military-related contracts. Pilot testing began in 2020 and took a few years to complete. That product — Starshield — is now ready for deployment.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 booster carrying 23 more Starlink V2 Mini satellites to orbit Saturday night from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center after hours of weather delays. The launch finally came at 11:09 PM EDT, after two pushbacks on the planned L-0 time due to shifting weather on the Space Coast.
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – SpaceX, in collaboration with NASA, is gearing up for its 30th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, carrying an uncrewed SpaceX Cargo Dragon, is slated for Thursday, March 21, at 4:55 p.m. EDT.
By now, most are familiar with SpaceX’s effort to bring internet access to every corner of the world. And they’re doing a pretty good job of it. With over 6000 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Starlink satellites already in space, and as many as 6000 more going up on future launches, one would think that the whole world would be pretty happy about it, right? Or at least the “free countries”…but maybe not.
The good folks over at Cosmic Perspective / Everyday Astronaut captured some spectacular footage of the IFT-3 launch from their multiple remote cameras last week. No doubt, it’s the best to date. Well done!
It probably will come as no surprise to anyone that SpaceX’s Starship program is once again grounded pending another mishap investigation.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Thursday that it has initiated its third mishap investigation into the Starship program following an anomaly during its latest orbital test flight, IFT-3, on March 14, 2024. This inquiry marks yet another pause in the testing of the huge rocket, which reigns as the largest and most powerful rocket in history.
SpaceX successfully launched the third Integrated Flight Test (IFT) of a Starship this morning from the company’s Starbase test facility in Boca Chica, TX. With the launch, IFT-3 became the first Starship mission to reach orbit. Hopes ran high for the test mission as the countdown to the 8:25 AM CDT launch proceeded flawlessly with no holds.
Update: New Launch Window opens 3/14/24 7:04 PM EDT
SpaceX plans to launch the Starlink 6-44 mission tonight, Thursday, March 14, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
The payload will be another tranche of 23 Starlink satellites that will be ferried low-Earth orbit from pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. According to the company, “liftoff is targeted for 7:04 PM EDT, with backup opportunities available until 11:29 PM EDT.
