Live coverage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket countdown and launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Starlink 4-34 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 54 large-scale Starlink satellites. Follow us Twitter.
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SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sunday evening after a five-day delay due to weather conditions, moving 54 more Starlink satellites into orbit as the company continues to push it to complete more than 60 missions this year.
The 229-foot (60-meter) Falcon 9 rocket took off at 20:18:40 EDT (0018: 40 GMT Monday) to begin SpaceX’s Starlink 4-34 mission. Powered by nine kerosene-powered Merlin 1D engines, the Falcon 9 takes off and launches into the night sky as it flies northeast from Platform 40 on the Cape Canaveral space station.
The mission finally began after a five-day delay, which began Tuesday evening when the launch team canceled a countdown before starting to load propellant into the Falcon 9 rocket. Florida all night. Similar weather conditions Wednesday night forced officials to call for another wash before the tank, and SpaceX stopped the countdown at about T-minus 30 seconds Thursday night as time remained “off-limits” for launch.
It was a similar story Friday night when SpaceX refueled the Falcon 9, but it stopped counting down in less than 60 seconds. The team originally aimed for another launch attempt on Saturday, but SpaceX announced last Saturday that the mission would be delayed until Sunday evening.
This flight marks the launch of SpaceX’s 42 Falcon 9 so far in 2022. This is the 40th attempt to launch public space from the Florida space coast this year, including the launches of SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Astra.
About 15 minutes after takeoff, the top of the Falcon 9 rocket launched 54 Starlink satellites over the North Atlantic Ocean at a speed of approximately 17,000 mph. The satellites amount to approximately 36,800 pounds, or 16.7 tons, of payload mass.
The Starlink 4-34 mission is the third of five Falcon 9 missions that SpaceX has scheduled this month. Tom Ochinero, SpaceX’s Vice President of Commercial Sales, said last week at the Global Satellite Business Week conference in Paris that the company aims to complete more than 60 launches this year, aim for 100 missile missions by 2023, and continue the huge increase in the rhythmic pace of SpaceX launches.
The faster launch speed is supported by shorter wait times 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 Starlink Internet network, such as Sunday night’s mission, have accounted for about two-thirds of Falcon 9 flights so far this year.
The next launch of Starlink’s Falcon 9 was scheduled for September 19 from Cape Canaveral, but will likely be delayed until the last week of September due to the ripple effects due to weather conditions for the Starlink 4-34 mission.
SpaceX began launching 54 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 special flight last month, one more spacecraft than the company normally launched on previous missions. SpaceX experimented with several throttle settings and other minor tweaks to improve the Falcon 9’s performance.
SpaceX tested the Falcon 9 booster for the Starlink 4-34 mission on the launch pad on September 11. A stationary firing attempt was halted on 10 September when a severe thunderstorm hit the Cape Canaveral spaceport.
The booster that flew the B1067 Sunday night was assigned to SpaceX’s reusable rocket inventory. Booster had previously launched two astronaut missions to the International Space Station, as well as two refueling flights to the station. You have also launched the Turkish communications satellite Turksat 5B.
Phase one completed its sixth space flight on Sunday evening, culminating in landing on a target aboard a SpaceX drone parked in the Atlantic Ocean.
With the Starlink 4-34 mission, SpaceX has now launched 3,347 Internet Starlink satellites, including decommissioned prototypes and test units. The launch on Saturday was SpaceX’s 61st mission devoted primarily to moving the Internet Starlink satellite into orbit.
The SpaceX launch team, stationed inside the Launch Control Center south of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, began loading ultra-cooled kerosene and liquid oxygen boosters into the Falcon 9 spacecraft at T-minus 35 minutes.
Helium from the compressor was also poured into the rocket in the last half hour of the countdown. In the last seven minutes before takeoff, the main engine of the Falcon 9 Merlin is thermally adapted for flight in a procedure known as “relaxation”. The Falcon 9 guidance system and beam safety are also configured to fire.
After takeoff, the Falcon 9 rocket directed its 1.7 million pound force – generated by nine Merlin engines – to aim in the northeastern Atlantic.
The missile exceeded the speed of sound in about a minute, then shut off its nine main engines two and a half minutes after takeoff. The boost stage is activated by the upper stage of the Falcon 9, then emits pulses from the cold gas control thrusters and expands the titanium grille fins to help return the vehicle to the atmosphere.
Brake burns slowed the missile as it landed aboard the “instruction read only” drone about 400 miles (650 kilometers) after about eight and a half minutes of takeoff.
The Falcon 9’s reusable payload fairing was removed during the second combustion phase. Rescue ships are also in stations in the Atlantic to collect nose cones after being sprayed with parachutes.
The mission’s first-stage landing on Sunday occurred moments after the Falcon 9’s second-stage engine failed to send the Starlink satellite into orbit. It has been confirmed that the Starlink 54 spacecraft, built by SpaceX in Redmond, Washington, will separate from the Falcon 9 rocket at T + plus 15 minutes and 21 seconds.
The wait bar is activated by the Starlink payload, allowing the flat-packed satellite to fly freely from the Falcon 9’s upper stage into orbit. Spacecraft 54 will launch and power the solar array through automatic activation steps, then use a krypton-powered ion engine to maneuver it into its operational orbit.
The Falcon 9 guidance computer aims to deploy the satellite in an elliptical orbit with an inclination of 53.2 degrees relative to the equator. The satellite will use the thrust on board to do the rest of the work to achieve a circular orbit 335 miles (540 kilometers) above the Earth.
The Starlink satellite will fly in one of five orbital “skins” in different directions to SpaceX’s global Internet. Once it reaches its operational orbit, the satellite will enter commercial service and begin broadcasting broadband signals to consumers, who will be able to purchase Starlink services and connect to the network via ground stations provided by SpaceX.
Rocket: Falco 9 (B1067.6)
Useful load: 54 Starlink satellites (Starlink 4-34)
launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Station, Florida
Lunch date: September 18, 2022
lunch time: 8:18:40 PM EST (0018:40 GMT on September 19)
Weather forecast: 40% chance of acceptable time; low risk of higher altitude winds; Reduced risk of unfavorable conditions for better healing
Recovery from reinforcement: Unmanned ship with the slogan “Just read the directions” east of Charleston, South Carolina
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: North East
target orbit: 144 miles by 208 miles (232 kilometers by 336 kilometers), 53.2 degree miles
Lunch time:
- T + 00: 00: take off
- T + 01: 12: maximum air pressure (Max-Q)
- T + 02: 27: First stage main engine shutdown (MECO)
- T + 02: 31: Phase separation
- T + 02: 36: Start the engine in the second stage
- T + 02: 42: You lose your temper
- T + 06: 48: inbound burn first stage ignition (three engines)
- T + 07: 07: first stage burn-in interrupted
- T + 08: 26: Ignition of the first combustion stage (single engine)
- T + 08: 40: Second stage of engine shutdown (SECO 1)
- T + 08: 47: First stage landing
- T + 15: 21: Starlink satellite disconnection
Job statistics:
- 176th Falcon 9 launch since 2010
- The launch of the 184th Falcon family since 2006
- The sixth launch of the Falcon 9 Booster B1067
- The 151st Falcon 9 is launched from the Florida Space Coast
- Falcon 9 launch n. 97 platforms out of 40.
- Lancia 152 of 40. pad
- Flight 118 of the reused Falcon 9 booster
- 61st special launch of the Falcon 9 with the Starlink satellite
- Falcon 9 42nd launch in 2022
- 42nd SpaceX launch in 2022
- 40th orbital launch attempt from Cape Canaveral in 2022
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