SpaceX to launch Falcon 9 first-stage booster on record-breaking nineteenth flight

SpaceX is getting ready a Falcon 9 first-stage booster for a record-breaking nineteenth launch Friday evening because it continues the enlargement of its Starlink satellite tv for pc constellation. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral is at present scheduled for 11 p.m. EST (0400 UTC).

First-stage B1058 is already the fleet chief with 18 missions and is poised to cement that place with the Starlink 6-32 mission, which is able to ship 23 satellites to orbit. The booster first flew in Might 2020 carrying astronauts for the primary time on the Demo-2 Crew Dragon mission. It nonetheless encompasses a pale NASA ‘worm’ brand from that mission.

The possibilities of an on-time liftoff appeared distant because the rocket wasn’t hoisted upright on the launch pad till round 7:35 p.m. EST (0035 UTC). SpaceX mentioned it had backup launch alternatives out there till 3 a.m. EST (0800 UTC) Saturday morning.

The forty fifth Climate Squadron at Cape Canaveral House Power Station, mentioned Thursday there was 60-70 % likelihood of acceptable climate for launch with higher circumstances on the opening of the window. The first issues have been violations of the thick cloud layer and cumulus cloud guidelines.

Spaceflight Now may have stay protection of the launch beginning an hour previous to liftoff. You can even see views of the rocket in our Launch Pad Dwell stream.

The Falcon 9 first stage will land on the drone ship ‘Simply Learn the Directions’ about eight and half minutes into the flight. Two burns of the rocket’s second stage will put the 23 second-generation Starlink satellites into orbit, with deployment occurring about one hour, 5 minutes after launch.

SpaceX revealed this week it’s Starlink web service now has 2.3 million customers in 70 nations. Since 2019 it has launched 5,604 satellites based on statistics compiled by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer on the Harvard-Smithsonian Middle for Astrophysics, who maintains an area flight database. As of Dec. 20, 5,226 satellites stay in orbit and 5,191 seem like working usually.