Covering All Things Florida
In the early hours of Sunday morning, SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn crew successfully completed their five-day journey in space, capping off the historic mission with a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The Crew Dragon capsule, carrying four astronauts, landed off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida, at 3:37 a.m. ET, marking the conclusion of a mission that included the world’s first commercial spacewalk.
This morning, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the first five BlueBird Block 1 communications satellites for AST SpaceMobile. These satellites will improve cell service in remote areas of the United States. The launch occurred at 4:52 AM EDT from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis this morning became the first private citizens in history to conduct a spacewalk. The spacewalk, which lasted 1 hour and 46 minutes from start to finish, seemed to go off without a hitch. Exiting the Polaris Dawn / SpaceX Crew Dragon early Thursday, September 12, 2024, Isacmann’s helmet camera captured a breathtaking view of the spacecraft’s open hatch, followed by the large blue globe that is our home. The landmark event was part of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, designed to test new spacesuits developed by the company and push the boundaries of private space exploration.
In the sci-fi classic “2010: The Year We Make Contact”, a manned mission headed to Europa received an ominous warning from alien monoliths, “All these worlds are yours except Europa – attempt no landing there.“NASA is very likely hoping this bit of science fiction stays that way as they prepare to launch a new mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon.
The Florida skies over the Kennedy Space Center lit up once again this morning with the 5:23 a.m. ET launch of the Polaris Dawn mission. This mission may prove to be one of the most significant yet in the realm of commercial space flight. The mission, spearheaded by SpaceX and billionaire Jared Isaacman, aims to break multiple records and test several new technologies that will advance private space exploration.
SpaceX plans to launch Polaris Dawn early tomorrow morning from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, with four astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon. Following weeks of recent weather delays and continued unsettled weather, the mission has a 40% chance of lifting off tomorrow, according to SpaceX.
Boeing Starliner has successfully returned to Earth. The touchdown was at 12:00 AM EDT when Starliner landed at White Sands Space Harbor.
Tonight, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is set to return to Earth. Whether or not it will be a safe return depends on who you ask. In one corner, we have Boeing, who publicly at least, stands 100% behind their crew capsule. In the other corner, NASA’, who is confident in Starliner, but not confident enough to risk the lives their astronauts.
SpaceX launched the Starlink 8-11 mission into hazy skies with storms looming in the distance late this morning aboard Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Update: Wednesday’s Starlink launch attempt was called off with slightly more than two minutes left in the countdown due to weather in the booster landing zone. Florida is experiencing a rather stormy week, leading to a high degree of uncertainty in the week’s launch schedule.
SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 Thursday morning from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, carrying another group of Starlink satellites. According to SpaceX, “Liftoff is targeted for 8:35 a.m. ET, with additional opportunities available until 12:31 p.m. ET.”
SpaceX got right back to business early Saturday morning as it launched the Starlink 8-10 mission aboard Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared SpaceX to resume Falcon 9 launches.
