SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 late in the afternoon from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The payload was Northrop Grumman’s MRV-MEV-1 satellite servicing satellite. Liftoff was at 5:15 pm ET and into partly cloudy summer skies above the Space Coast. Orbit was achieved at T+07:55, and the payloads were successfully deployed at 35:34 elapsed minutes into the mission.

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Monument Valley

I went on a six-day trip to tour from Albuquerque through northeast Arizona into a bit of Utah before looping back to where we started. Mainly, I wanted to see the place, visit the best parts, and take some photos on the way, but not worry too much about waiting for perfect light. I can go back to Valley of the Gods, for example, but now I have a good idea of what it will take to spend several days there as well as where the “good” places are. Out here, in the lands of the Hiné, they’re all good.

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On a day that saw SpaceX scrub a Falcon Heavy launch inside the last minute thanks to a nearbyh shower, United Launch Alliance had far better weather conditions later as the dusk faded into the night. They launched an Atlas V 551 at 8:53:30 PM EDT, sending another 29 broadband satellites toward low Earth orbit for the Amazon Leo constellation. ULA confirmed deployment of all 29 spacecraft shortly after.

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Today’s launch was the first commercial payload for New Glenn, the first time it has reused a booster, and the second time it has successfully landed a booster aboard Blue Origin’s drone ship, Jacklyn. Unfortunately, later in the mission, New Glenn’s second stage failed to deliver the payload into its intended orbit.

While the initial ascent was picture perfect, the end result was not. At roughly T+2h 15m into the mission, Blue Origin reported that the satellite was delivered into an off-nominal orbit.

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