Next SpaceX launch

Vlaun's Saturday example was actually based in reality: SpaceX recently notified the Coast Guard that its next launch, slated for the afternoon of Saturday, May 14, would include a unique southeastern trajectory. It's not totally different from previous missions that hugged the state's coast, but just enough to warrant some changes on his end.

"We just got a brand new trajectory we've never heard of come in yesterday that (SpaceX) wants to do Saturday," he said. "We don't get six months or a year's notice to try to figure these things out anymore."

If schedules hold, a 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company's next batch of Starlink internet satellites that day from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Weather for liftoff, set between 4:28 p.m. and 4:49 p.m. EDT, was last calculated by the Space Force at 70% "go."

After launch toward the southeast, a drone ship will host the rocket's recovery attempt.

Quelle: Florida Today

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Launch of Starlink Satellites Aboard Falcon Rocket from Vandenberg SFB Delayed Until Friday

The mission to place 53 Starlink satellites into space has slipped another day and now will aim for a Friday afternoon departure from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Liftoff of the 223-foot-tall rocket built by Space Exploration Technologies is scheduled to occur at 3:07 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-4, SpaceX confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

SpaceX said the mission has an instantaneous window to get the satellites where they need to be in orbit.

“Teams are keeping an eye on weather, which is currently 40% favorable for liftoff,” SpaceX representatives said on Twitter.

That means there’s a 60% likelihood that conditions will force the team to scrub the launch attempt. SpaceX did not outline the weather concerns.

However, Santa Barbara County has seen some especially windy conditions this week. The National Weather Service in Oxnard issued a wind advisory for Wednesday afternoon into Thursday morning for part of the county with the forecast calling for winds between 20 and 30 mph and gusts up to 45 mph.

Upon liftoff, the next batch of Starlink satellites will join hundreds of other spacecraft forming the constellation to provide high-speed Internet services.

Starlink has been designed to deliver as a space-based Internet for those in remote locations where land-based service isn’t available or very reliable.

This mission most recently aimed for a Tuesday and then a Thursday departure from Vandenberg before SpaceX confirmed another postponement late Wednesday afternoon without explanation.

The first-stage booster tasked with carrying the satellites into space has completed a similar chore four other times from Vandenberg, two involving NASA payloads and two involving placing Starlink satellites into space.

Since the spent first-stage will land on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles south of the Central Coast eight minutes after launch, residents of Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties won’t hear sonic booms that accompany the rocket’s return to Vandenberg.

Deployment of the Starlink satellites from the rocket will begin about one hour after liftoff, according to SpaceX.

Vandenberg has restricted access, but the launch of Falcon 9 rockets can be viewed from various sites around the Lompoc Valley and, as the space booster rises, from other locations on the Central Coast, if the marine layer cooperates.

Popular viewing sites include the western end of Ocean Avenue, the peak of Harris Grade Road and locations in Vandenberg Village, including Providence Landing Park.

Quelle: Noozhawk

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Update: 14.05.2022

Start von SpaceX´s 44th Starlink Mission and 45th Starlink launch