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SpaceX will attempt to finally launch Starlink 10-2 tomorrow, after a pair of weather-related scrubs and one abort-at-ignition last week. After the hard shutdown, the company has re-assigned a new booster for the launch and returned the one originally slated for the mission to Hangar X for closer inspection and repairs.
It looked like any other day with any other Falcon 9 launch…until it didn’t.
At T-0, Falcon 9’s Merlin engines ignited, but almost immediately shut down with the rocket still on the pad at Space Launch 40. This is a rare occurrence for a SpaceX launch, and it appeared to be an automated shutdown initiated by the rocket itself at a time when the onboard computer system is in control.
If you were watching SpaceX’s live launch coverage of the Starship launch this morning on any one of a several dozen Youtube Channels, you may have gotten a big surprise. The channels, which appeared high in Youtube’s rankings, carried SpaceX’s legitimate broadcast down to just a few minutes before launch when they smoothly transitioned to a video of Elon Musk, presumably at Starbase.
SpaceX’s Starship rocket embarked on a successful test flight from Texas on Thursday, launching at about 8:50 a.m. EDT from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas. This fourth test flight saw the world’s largest and most powerful rocket—standing nearly 400 feet tall—take off without any crew onboard, aiming for a journey across the Gulf of Mexico and eastward to the Indian Ocean for a planned hour-long flight.
In perhaps the most vivid launch for spectators so far in 2024, SpaceX launched another twenty-three Starlink Mini V2 satellites to orbit after successfully launching the Starlink 6-59 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station this evening.
Liftoff was at 08:32 PM EDT. Around 8.3 minutes after liftoff, the first-stage booster used for the mission, tail number B1062, touched down safely on ASDS ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’, stationed downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. After landing, B1062 has now flown to space for a record-setting twenty-one times.
Carnival Corporation, operator of the world’s largest cruise line, has deployed SpaceX’s Starlink Internet service to all ninety of their ships across all of their brands.
The Federal Aviation Administration, NASA and other parties have published a notice of intent to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for SpaceX Starship launches from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, where it anticipates up to forty-four launches and landing at the facility.
Another 23 Starlink satellites are set to be sent to orbit aboard a Falcon 9 this evening from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch window opens at 09:49 PM EDT and extends until 01:17 AM EDT Friday.
If tonight’s planned liftoff does not happen, according to SpaceX, “If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Friday, May 3, starting at 9:03 p.m. ET.”
SpaceX is set to launch a pair of long-delayed navigation satellites tomorrow night (April 27) at 8:34PM from Pad 39A at KSC.
The satellites, FM25 and FM27, are being launched aboard a Falcon 9 booster as part of Europe’s MEO Galileo constellation. They will join 26 other satellites that began launching in 2011 to form part of a high-precision navigation system for the European Union.
SpaceX plans to send another tranche of 23 Starlink satellites to orbit Monday evening from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch window opens at 6:40 PM EDT and extends to 10:40 PM.
SpaceX is planning to launch the first of three Falcon 9 missions over the next five days today. There’s another launch scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, April 18, and a final one set for Monday, April 22nd. All three will be ferrying a tranche of Starlink Group 6 satellites to orbit. Today’s launch is from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
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
