Timelapse of Falcon 9’s flight as seen from Veteran’s Park in Titusville this morning. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying the Starlink 10-6 mission from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center aboard a Falcon 9 Rocket. Liftoff was at 01:01 AM EDT.
After a nominal ascent, around 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the first-stage booster used for the mission, tail number B1078, touched down safely on ASDS ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’, stationed downrange in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Carolinas.
B1078 has now flown twelve successful missions, after previously launching Crew-6, O3b mPOWER, USSF-124, and now nine Starlink missions.
Falcon 9’s second-stage two burns were also right on the money, and the Starlink Group 10-6 of 23 Starlink Mini v2 satellites were placed into their intended initial orbit.
With Booster B1078 safely aboard, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ will now return to Port Canaveral, where the booster will be unloaded, transported to SpaceX’s Hangar X facility at Kennedy Space Center and prepared for its next flight after inspection and refurbishment.
Starlink 10-6 rising Photo: Richard Gallagher, Florida Media Now
At 02:07 AM EDT, SpaceX confirmed deployment of tonight’s payload, marking another successful mission for the company and for Falcon 9.
Today’s payload was another 23 Starlink satellites that will join SpaceX’s constellation in low-Earth orbit. Now under their own power, the satellites will move into the final orbital positions before being commissioned and beginning operation.
Next Launch
SpaceX will launch the NG-21 ISS resupply for Northrup Grumman and NASA aboard a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Station on Saturday morning.
Date: NET August 3, 2024
Organization: SpaceX / NASA and Northrup Grumman
Mission: NG-21
Rocket: Falcon 9
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Launch Window: 11:28 AM – instantaneous window
Payload: Northrup Grumman Cygnus
SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying NG-20 for Northrup Grumman in January 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusvill
Keep in mind that launch dates and times change often. Launch attempts can be scrubbed anytime due to weather, technical reasons, or range conditions.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members (pictured from left to right) NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi. Photo: NASA
NASA announced the members of the Crew-10 mission to ISS today. They slated to fly to ISS no earlier than February of next year aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon and Falcon 9.
NASA astronauts Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov will join astronauts at the orbiting laboratory next year.
Anne McClain
Anne McClain Photo: NASA
This will be McClain’s second spaceflight. She was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and is a colonel in the U.S. Army. McClain earned her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and holds master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering, International Security, and Strategic Studies.
The Spokane, Washington, native is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. She has more than 2,300 flight hours in 24 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including more than 800 in combat, and was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Rugby Team.
On her first spaceflight, McClain spent 204 days as a flight engineer during Expeditions 58 and 59 and was the lead on two spacewalks, totaling 13 hours and 8 minutes. Since then, she has served in various roles, including branch chief and space station assistant to the chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office.
Nichole Ayers
Nichole Ayers Photo: NASA
Ayers is a major in the U.S. Air Force and the first member of NASA’s 2021 astronaut class set to fly to space. The Colorado native graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a minor in Russian.
She later earned a master’s in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University in Houston. Ayers served as an instructor pilot and mission commander in the T-38 ADAIR and F-22 Raptor, leading multinational and multiservice missions worldwide. She has more than 1,400 total flight hours, including more than 200 in combat.
Ayers is also a former athlete, and was a member of the academy’s varsity volleyball team.
Takuya Onishi
Takuya Onishi Photo: JAXA
The Crew 10 flight will be Onishi’s second trip to the International Space Station. After being selected by JAXA in 2009, he flew as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49 became the first Japanese astronaut to robotically capture the Cygnus spacecraft. He has spent 113 days in space. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Tokyo and was a pilot for All Nippon Airways, flying more than 3,700 flight hours in the Boeing 767.
He also constructed a new experimental environment aboard Kibo, the station’s Japanese experiment module. Since his spaceflight, Onishi became certified as a JAXA flight director, leading the team responsible for operating Kibo from JAXA Mission Control in Tsukuba, Japan.
Kirill Peskov
Kirill Peskov Photo: Roscosmos
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission also will be Peskov’s first spaceflight. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he earned a degree in Engineering from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar. Assigned as a test-cosmonaut in 2020, he has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.
Falcon 9 late in first stage flight. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Lather, Rinse, Repeat: SpaceX plans to launch another set of twenty-three Starlink satellites, this time from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
The launch window is similar to last week’s Starlink 10-9 launch — it opens at 12:19 AM EDT and extends until 05:02 AM EDT the same day. Should weather or technical reasons arise and cause a delay, the company has a similar launch window Saturday, August 3.
After it completes its portion of the mission, the booster will land offshore on ASDS ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’, which is stationed offshore downrange on the Atlantic Ocean near the Carolinas. Since this is not a Return To Launch Site mission, no sonic booms will be heard on the Space Coast.
The launch will be SpaceX’s 76th of 2024 and its 15th launch from LC-39A this year. Overall, it will be the 386th SpaceX launch of all time.
At A Glance
Mission: Starlink 10-6
Date: NET August 2, 2024
Launch Window: 12:19 AM – 05:02 AM EDT*
Weather: 95% Go during the primary launch window
Organization: SpaceX
Rocket: Falcon 9
Trajectory: Northeastward
Launch Site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center
Booster Landing: Offshore on ASDS A Shortfall of Gravitas
Payload: Communications satellite to geosynchronous orbit.
Destination: Low-Earth Orbit
* consult SpaceX website for the specific target for T-0.
Payload
The payload for this mission is a familiar one: twenty-three Starlink satellites. Starlink provides low-latency, high-bandwidth Internet connectivity to its customers.
Starlink orbital rendering by FetchCFD
Weather
General Forecast
Generally speaking, the threat of the usual afternoon and evening storms have died away for the evening by midnight, and tonight is no exception.
Temperature
~81° F / 26.9°C
Humidity
~90%
Precipitation
None, Probably
Cloud cover
~1% estimated
Windspeed (at ground level)
12-14 MPH / 5.5 m/s
Visibility
~8.7 miles / 14.0 km
As shown below, the 45th’s forecast states, “Storms will meander the Space Coast area but will subside in advance of the launch windows each day leaving just lingering dissipating clouds. Additionally, during the launch windows there is a small chance for nocturnal storms to develop over the water near the coastline, especially on Saturday morning. Primary concerns for each day would be the Cumulus Cloud Rule.”
That in mind, the 45th is forecasting only a 5% Probability of Violations for weather conditions, meaning that they rate chances for acceptable conditions at 95%. They also have rated the probability of a problem at the booster landing area as “low.”
The official forecast from the 45th Weather Squadron:
45th Weather Squadron’s forecast on August 1, 2024 Retrieved 11am 08/01/2024
Trajectory
The trajectory for the Starlink 10-6 mission is a familiar path: northeastward, the customary direction for SpaceX’s Group 10 Starlink launches. The rocket right-to-left if you are on the Space Coast and facing in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean.
Landing
After completing its part of the mission, the first stage booster will land offshore on the Automated Spaceport Drone Ship ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas.’
As such, there will be no sonic boom on the Space Coast.
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: Starlink 10-6. This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about five minutes before liftoff.
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
For official updates regarding launch times, SpaceX.com is the best source of information. Starlink launch times change from time to time, and the company generally updates their website within minutes of the decision to change the launch time. This is very handy if none of the streaming options on YouTube have started their broadcasts.
Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
Next Space Flight an app for iOS and Android phones, has a real-time countdown clock that is accurate to a second, give or take. The app is free. Search the App Store or Google Play. They are also on the web: nextspaceflight.com.
Launch Viewing: In Person
This morning’s planned launch is from LC-39A of the Eastern Range (KSC and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station combined.) The northern parks in Titusville on Washington Avenue and FL-528/A1A in Cape Canaveral are the best spots to watch liftoff directly.
There are several excellent viewing spots for LC-39A launches that offer indirect views — meaning you won’t see the rocket until it clears obstructions such as trees, buildings, even a storm berm in one case.
Parking fees (probably). Pay with your smartphone on the parking app. There are signs everywhere telling you how.
Further away, but still good views.
Southern Titusville Parks
Further away, but really nice views.
Restaurants With Good Launch Views
Given that the launch window opens after midnight and closes before dawn, local restaurants will be closed before liftoff and will not re-open before the end of the window.
Booster: unknown
SpaceX states “This is the 12th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-6, O3b mPOWER, USSF-124, and eight Starlink missions.”
That’s Booster B1078, which last flew forty days ago as part of the Starlink 10-2 mission.
Booster B1078
Flight Number
Payload
Date
1
Crew-6
March 2, 2023
2
O3b mPOWER 3 & 4
April 28, 2023
3
Starlink 6-4
June 4, 2023
4
Starlink 6-8
August 7, 2023
5
Starlink 6-16
September 16, 2023
6
Starlink 6-31
December 3, 2023
7
USSF-124
February 14, 2024
8
Starlink 6-46
March 25, 2024
9
Starlink 6-53
April 23, 2024
10
Starlink 6-60
May 28, 2024
11
Starlink 10-2
June 23, 2024
Booster B1078 as of 06/23/2024
Liftoff of a Falcon 9 as seen from Cocoa Beach. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Countdown Timeline
There are key events in the countdown that you may hear called out in launch coverage.
Remember that once Propellant Loading (T-minus thirty-eight minutes) starts, Falcon 9 is committed to the launch attempt. Because of the nature of the cryogenic fuels used to power the rockets, any hold precludes a later launch attempt the same day. While it only rarely happens, there have been occasions where that has happened, and a launch scrub is called for the day’s attempt.
SpaceX provides the following countdown milestones on their mission information page:
Hours:Minutes:Seconds
Event
00:38:00
SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load
00:35:00*
RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins
00:35:00
1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins
00:16:00
2nd stage LOX loading begins
00:07:00
Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch
00:01:00
Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
00:01:00
Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins
00:00:45
SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
00:00:03
Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start
00:00:00
Falcon 9 liftoff
* after propellant loading begins, SpaceX is committed, and any holds until liftoff results in a scrub for the day. This is important if the weather is marginal. Via SpaceX. SpaceX countdown timeline is presented for information purposes only and can be changed by the launch provider without notice.
Timeline of Falcon 9 Flight
SpaceX has published a timeline of expected events during the mission:
Hours:Minutes:Seconds
Event
00:00:00
Liftoff
00:01:10
Max-Q (Moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
00:02:26
1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
00:02:30
1st and 2nd stages separate
00:02:36
2nd stage engine starts (SES-1)
00:02:57
Fairing deployment
00:06:05
1st stage entry burn begins
00:06:28
1st stage entry burn ends
00:07:46
1st stage landing burn begins
00:08:14
1st stage landing
00:08:39
2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)
00:54:40
2nd stage engine starts (SES-2)
00:54:42
2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2)
01:03:34
Starlink satellites deploy
via: SpaceX. SpaceX flight timeline is presented for information purposes only and can be changed by the launch provider without notice.
All events up to the end of the 1st stage entry burn should be visible for launch spectators watching the launch in person, so long as clouds are not blocking the viewer’s line of sight.
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