The rocket exceeded the speed of sound in about one minute, then shut down its nine main engines two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. In the final seven minutes before liftoff, the Falcon 9’s Merlin main engines were thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as “chilldown.” The Falcon 9’s guidance and range safety system were also configured for launch.Īfter liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket vectored its 1.7 million pounds of thrust - produced by nine Merlin engines - to steer northeast over the Atlantic Ocean. Helium pressurant also flowed into the rocket in the last half-hour of the countdown. Stationed inside a launch control center just south of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for Saturday night’s countdown, SpaceX’s launch team began loading super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Falcon 9 vehicle at T-minus 35 minutes. Most recently, the booster launched and landed Aug. The booster debuted May 14 with a launch carrying Starlink satellites, then flew again June 29 with the SES 22 commercial communications satellite. The Falcon 9 booster that launched Saturday night is numbered B1073 in SpaceX’s inventory of reusable rockets. The higher launch rate has been aided by shorter turnarounds between missions at launch pads in Florida and California, and SpaceX’s reuse of Falcon 9 boosters and payload fairings. Launches carrying satellites for SpaceX’s own Starlink internet network, like the mission Saturday night, have accounted for about two-thirds of the company’s Falcon 9 flights so far this year. SpaceX plans to complete more than 60 missions this year, an average of about one launch every six days. SpaceX is tentatively planning one more Falcon 9 launch with additional Starlink satellites before the end of September, but that schedule hinges on potential impacts from soon-to-be Hurricane Ian, which is forecast to threaten Florida next week. The Starlink 4-35 mission was the fourth Falcon 9 mission of the month. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Saturday night with 52 more Starlink internet satellites. The launch Sunday night, designated Starlink 4-35, was SpaceX’s 43rd launch of the year.Ībout 15 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage released the 52 Starlink satellites over the North Atlantic Ocean traveling at a velocity of some 17,000 mph. The company currently has around 3,000 functioning Starlink satellites in space, with about 2,500 operational and another 500 moving into their operational orbits, according to a tabulation by Jonathan McDowell, an expert tracker of spaceflight activity and an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. After Saturday night’s mission, SpaceX has sent 3,399 Starlink satellites into orbit, including prototypes and failed spacecraft. With 52 more satellites on the way to join the constellation Saturday night, SpaceX moves closer to fully deploying its initial fleet of 4,400 Starlink spacecraft. “Starlink is now active on all continents, including Antarctica,” tweeted Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO. National Science Foundation September 14, 2022 NSF-supported USAP scientists in #Antarctica are over the moon! Starlink is testing polar service with a newly deployed user terminal at McMurdo Station, increasing bandwidth and connectivity for science support. The National Science Foundation announced earlier this month that the agency is working with SpaceX to test the Starlink service at the agency’s McMurdo Station. Subscribers can now connect to the Starlink network in more than 40 countries and territories.Īntarctica is one of the most recent regions where Starlink internet service is available. The 52 Starlink satellites on-board the Falcon 9 will add to SpaceX’s consumer-grade, high-speed, low-latency internet network. EDT (2332:10 GMT) Saturday, climbing into a twilight sky that gave spectators a dazzling view as the launcher shed its first stage booster and payload fairing a few minutes after launch. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:32:10 p.m. Another group of 52 Starlink internet satellites rocketed into orbit Saturday night from Cape Canaveral on top of a Falcon 9 launcher, continuing deployment of SpaceX’s global broadband network now accessible from all seven continents.
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