SpaceX sends two drone ships to sea for back-to-back Starlink, astronaut launches

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SpaceX has sent both of its East Coast drone ships to sea to support an upcoming pair of back-to-back Falcon 9 launches and landings.

The ‘autonomous spaceport drone ship ‘ (ASDS) Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) left first, exiting Florida’s Port Canaveral with the help of a tugboat on April 16th. On April 18th, drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG) followed suit, shadowing JRTI en route to a similar location northeast of Cape Canaveral. Both should arrive at their respective Atlantic Ocean landing zones within a few days.

No earlier than (NET) 11:16 am EDT (15:16 UTC), Thursday, April 21st, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a well-worn Falcon 9 booster carrying a new upper stage and the latest batch of ~50 Starlink V1.5 satellites. Less than two full days later, a different Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch a new Crew Dragon spacecraft and four NASA and ESA astronauts on their way to the International Space Station.

Starlink 4-14 – the 14th mission carrying satellites destined for the fourth of five Starlink orbital ‘shells’ – will be SpaceX’s 9th Starlink launch and 15th launch overall in 2022, averaging just shy of one launch per week. The mission should also leave SpaceX with more than 2100 working Starlink satellites in orbit – likely not far off from half of all operational satellites in Earth orbit.

SpaceX appears to have assigned Falcon 9 booster B1061 to the launch after the rocket – already integrated with a new upper stage – was spotted on the way to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) on April 18th. Starlink 4-14 will be B1060’s 12th launch since June 30th, 2020, tying Falcon 9 B1051’s booster reuse record but accomplishing the feat almost 15 months faster. It’s unlikely that B1051 will ever retake its crown from B1060. Based on past performance, B1060 could easily fly another 4-6 times before the end of 2022 if it survives Starlink 4-14.

As few as 42 hours later, Falcon 9 booster B1067 could lift off for the fourth time with a new Crew Dragon capsule – C212 or “Freedom” – and a team of four professional astronauts as part of NASA’s Crew-4 mission at 5:26 am EDT (09:26 UTC), April 23rd. Crew-4 will be SpaceX’s seventh astronaut launch since May 2020 and its fourth operational crew transport mission for NASA. A few days after Crew Dragon C212 docks with the International Space Station (ISS), four Crew-3 astronauts will board a different Crew Dragon and return to Earth, handing off the US segment to Crew-4.

However, two Crew Dragons are already docked to the ISS, taking up both available International Docking Adapter (IDA) ports. Before Crew-4 can launch, Axiom-1 – SpaceX’s first all-private astronaut mission to the space station – must undock and return to Earth. On April 18th, that undocking was delayed about 15 hours by poor weather to 10 pm EDT, April 19th, pushing splashdown and recovery off the coast of Florida to mid-afternoon, April 20th. NASA and SpaceX will then have about 60 hours to analyze any data gathered from the completed Axiom-1 mission and determine whether or not to proceed with Crew-4 on April 23rd.

Quelle: TESLARATI

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Update: 21.04.2022

Space Force: Weather OK for SpaceX's next Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral

Space Force forecasters are expecting mostly favorable conditions for SpaceX's next launch from Florida, a mission carrying the newest batch of Starlink internet satellites.

If conditions hold, a 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket should face 70% "go" conditions for its 11:14 a.m. EDT Thursday liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 40. Winds around the pad were noted as the primary concern.

"While the weather will be pleasant and sunny ... a ridge will maintain breezy-to-windy conditions across the spaceport through the end of the week," Space Launch Delta 45 forecasters said Wednesday. "The only concern for the primary and backup launch window will be liftoff winds."

In the general area, the temperature is expected to be a pleasant 75 degrees. Humidity, at least as far as Florida goes, should be a lower than average at 60%.

In the event of a 24-hour delay to Friday, conditions would likely degrade to 50% "go" due to the possibility of isolated showers and slightly stronger liftoff winds. Regardless of the launch day, the rocket's 162-foot first-stage booster will target a drone ship landing shortly after liftoff towards the northeast.

The Space Force provides weather forecasting support to all launch providers that use the Eastern Range.

Thursday's launch marks the 43rd for the Starlink, a constellation of more than 2,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit that beam internet connectivity to hundreds of thousands of users. The network even provides connectivity to Ukrainians fighting Russia's ongoing invasion via small, pizza box-sized "user terminals" that are essentially satellite dishes.

Looking beyond Starlink, meanwhile, NASA teams are still waiting for the arrival of Axiom-1's Crew Dragon mission from the International Space Station. The departure has been delayed several times due to inclement weather in splashdown zones around Florida and managers do not want to proceed with the next crewed launch, slated for Saturday, without first observing that capsule's return and taking time to review data.

Four astronauts – NASA's Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, and the European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforetti – arrived at Kennedy Space Center for their SpaceX Crew-4 mission launching this weekend. If Axiom is able to depart the ISS soon, they will fly on a Falcon 9 rocket and brand new Crew Dragon capsule no earlier than 5:26 a.m. EDT Saturday, April 23.

NASA is still reviewing the timeline, but a delay to one of the backup dates – Sunday and Monday – is likely.

Quelle: Florida Today

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