12.03.2024
SpaceX targeting Wednesday night for Cape Canaveral's 17th launch of the year thus far
SpaceX is targeting Wednesday night for another Falcon 9 rocket launch carrying a payload of Starlink satellites, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigation warning indicates.
The 4½-hour launch window will extend from 7:29 p.m. to 11 p.m. The Starlink 6-44 mission will lift off from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Mission: The Falcon 9 will deploy a payload of Starlink internet satellites. To date, SpaceX's growing high-speed broadband constellation has accumulated more than 2.6 million customers.
"Since the beginning of the year, teams have deployed and tested 193 different satellite software builds, 75 gateway software builds, 222 Starlink software builds, and 57 WiFi software builds," SpaceX officials said in a report tweeted Friday by the company.
No local sonic booms are expected following Wednesday's launch. Rather, after soaring skyward along a southeasterly trajectory, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster will target landing aboard a drone ship out at sea 8½ minutes after liftoff.
Wednesday's scheduled launch will follow the heels of Sunday night's photogenic liftoff of a similar SpaceX Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
That Sunday launch was the 16th so far during 2024 from the Space Coast. Last year's tally of 72 orbital launches shattered the Cape's all-time annual record.
Quelle: Florida Today
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Update: 16.03.2024
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On Friday, March 15 at 8:21 p.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This was the 19th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8, and now 12 Starlink missions.
Quelle: SpaceX
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