SpaceX and Falcon 9 launched another batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral into low Earth orbit late this afternoon. Liftoff was at 5:47 PM EDT under crystal clear skies and a slight breeze.
A multiple exposure composite of Falcon 9 rising this evening to start the Starlink 10-8 mission. This was the view from The Space Bar in Titusville. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Around 8.5 minutes after liftoff, Booster B1069 touched down safely on the company’s drone ship ‘Just Read The Instructions’ to complete its nineteenth mission successfully, while the second stage and payload continued to low Earth orbit.
At 6:53 PM EDT, SpaceX confirmed a successful deployment of the payload.
Starlink 10-8 is the 102nd SpaceX launch this year and the 414th for the company all time.
Tonight launch was the 50th from SLC-40 this year.
It was the 980th launch from Cape Canaveral.
Launch Replay
Next Launch
SpaceX is scheduled to launch another set of Starlink satellites aboard a Falcon 9 early on Monday evening from Space Launch Complex 40.
Date: NET October 21, 2024
Organization: SpaceX
Mission: Starlink Group 10-13
Rocket: Falcon 9
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Launch Window: 5:10 PM – 9:10 PM EDT
Payload: Starlink satellites
Keep in mind that launch dates and times change often. Launch attempts can be scrubbed anytime due to weather, technical reasons, or range conditions.
Launch spectators enjoyed some food and drinks at The Space Bar before the Starlink 10-8 launch on October 26, Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvilleA closer view of Falcon 9 launching this afternoon from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville.
SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 9 tomorrow from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, carrying another group of Starlink satellites. The launch window extends from 5:47 PM EDT to 9:47 PM this evening. According to SpaceX, “If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Sunday, October 27 starting at 5:24 p.m. ET.”
Booster B1069 will be used this evening. It last launched on August 31st, and tonight, it will be its 19th flight. This booster was first used for the CRS-24 mission, and also flew OneWeb 1, SES 18+19, Eutelsat HOTBIRD-F1,and 14 previous Starlink missions.
Falcon 9 on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40.
Photo: Charles Boyer / TOT
At A Glance
Mission: Starlink 10-8
Date: NET October 26 2024
Launch Window: 5:47 PM EDT — 9:47 PM EDT*
Weather: 90% GO
Organization: SpaceX
Rocket: Falcon 9
Trajectory: Northeast
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Booster Landing: ASDS ‘Just Read The Instructions’
The mission’s payload is another group of Starlink satellites, which will join Group 10 of SpaceX/Starlink’s orbital constellation in low-Earth orbit. Starlink is an Internet service serving over four million customers in over one hundred countries and territories globally.
Weather
The 45th Weather Squadron of the US Space Force Launch Delta 45 has forecast a 10% probability of a violation of acceptable weather conditions through the launch window, meaning that they expect conditions to be 90% GO. This is pretty close to a perfect forecast for the launch window.
Primary concerns are cumulus clouds in the Cape Canaveral area.
Retrieved 26 October 2024
Trajectory
The trajectory for this evening’s launch is northeastwards, or left-to-right if you are facing the Atlantic Ocean on the Space Coast.
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: Starlink 10-8. This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about fifteen 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
The best free options are available for spectators: Jetty Park, the Banana River Bridge on FL 528 West or the southern Titusville parks on Washington Avenue / US-1.
The Space Bar will be open through the launch window. New York New York in Titusville will be closing right as the window opens. Restaurants in Port Canaveral, specifically Gators Dockside, Fishlips and Grills Seafood should have good views after the rocket clears obstructions.
Cocoa Beach or the Cocoa Beach Pier area is also very good, but ignition won’t be visible and it will take several seconds for the rocket to clear obstructions between the launch pad and viewers.
SpaceX and Falcon 9 lofted another twenty Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral into low Earth orbit tonight. Liftoff was at 5:47 PM EDT.
Around 8.5 minutes after liftoff, Booster B1073 touched down safely on the company’s drone ship ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’ to complete its eighteenth mission successfully, while the second stage and payload continued to Earth orbit.
At 6:56 PM EDT, SpaceX confirmed a successful deployment of the payload and noted that this was their 100th successful Falcon flight of the year. (The number includes Falcon Heavy) That record is notable, given that all other nations plus other launch providers in the US have only collectively launched 95 other missions.
Deployment of 23 @Starlink satellites confirmed, completing our 100th successful Falcon flight of the year!
Crowds gathered on Cocoa Beach to watch a Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral earlier in 2024. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 9 tomorrow from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, carrying another group of Starlink satellites. The launch window extends from 6:52 PM EDT to 10:14 PM the same day. The launch will be SpaceX’s 99th in 2024.
Note: article has been updated to reflect a day/time change in the launch schedule.
At A Glance
Mission: Starlink 6-61
Date: NET October 22 2024
Launch Window: 6:52 PM EDT — 10:14 PM EDT*
Weather: 85% GO
Organization: SpaceX
Rocket: Falcon 9
Trajectory: Southeast
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
The mission’s payload is another group of Starlink satellites, which will join Group 6 of SpaceX/Starlink’s orbital constellation in low-Earth orbit. Starlink is an Internet service serving over four million customers in over one hundred countries and territories globally.
Weather
The 45th Weather Squadron of the US Space Force Launch Delta 45 has forecast a 15% probability of a violation of acceptable weather conditions through the launch window, meaning that they expect conditions to be 85% GO.
Primary concerns are winds and cumulus clouds in the Cape Canaveral area, with additional concerns listed for the booster landing area at sea.
Trajectory
Tomorrow’s launch is southeastwards. Spectators facing in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida will see Falcon 9 traveling left to right.
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: Starlink 6-61. This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about fifteen 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
The best free options are available for spectators: Jetty Park, the Banana River Bridge on FL 528 W or the southern Titusville parks on Washington Avenue / US-1 are your best bets.
The Space Bar will be open through the launch window. New York New York in Titusville will be closing right as the window opens. Restaurants in Port Canaveral, specifically Gators Dockside, Fishlips and Grills Seafood should have good views after the rocket clears obstructions.
Cocoa Beach or the Cocoa Beach Pier area is also very good, but ignition won’t be visible and it will take several seconds for the rocket to clear obstructions between the launch pad and viewers.
SpaceX and Falcon 9 lofted another twenty Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral into low Earth orbit tonight. Liftoff was at 7:31 PM EDT.
Around 8.5 minutes after liftoff, Booster B1076 touched down safely on the company’s drone ship ‘Just Read The Instructions’ to complete its seventeenth mission successfully, while the second stage and payload continued to Earth orbit.
SpaceX and Falcon 9 lofted another twenty Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral into low Earth orbit tonight. Liftoff was at 7:31 PM EDT.
Around 8.5 minutes after liftoff, Booster B1076 touched down safely on the company’s drone ship ‘Just Read The Instructions’ to complete its seventeenth mission successfully, while the second stage and payload continued to Earth orbit.
At 8:35 PM EDT, SpaceX confirmed a successful deployment of the payload.
SpaceX and the European Space Agency are planning to launch ESA’s Hera probe from Space Launch Complex 40 on Monday, October 7th. The launch window extends from 10:52 AM – 11:27 AM EDT.
At A Glance:
Date: NET October 7, 2024
Organization: SpaceX / European Space Agency
Mission: Hera
Rocket: Falcon 9
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Launch Window: 10:52 AM – 11:27 AM EDT
Payload: Hera Probe
Booster Landing Site: Expended
A Falcon 9 on the launch mount at Space Launch Complex 40 in August 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Falcon Family Returns To Flight, For This One Flight
The flight will mark the return to flight for Falcon family rockets after the September 28, 2024 launch of Crew 9 from Cape Canaveral, but according to the FAA it is for the Hera After launching NASA’s Crew 9 mission with Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA Astronaut Nick Hague aboard Crew Dragon on their mission to the International Space Station, the second stage of Falcon 9 separated from the capsule and was later commanded to fire its engine one last time in order for it to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
A specific area in the Pacific Ocean was targeted so as to minimize any risk of surviving debris causing injuries or property damage. The second stage’s final burn was “off-nominal,” according to SpaceX, and the stage re-entered outside of its designated area. SpaceX immediately announced it was “pausing” Falcon 9 flights while it investigated the matter and two days later, the FAA announced that it was requiring a formal investigation into the incident.
Falcon 9 second stage after shutting down on September 28, 2024
Photo: NASA – SpaceX livestream
That investigation put the Monday, October 7 target date for Hera’s launch in doubt, but SpaceX has been given a special exemption for the Hera flight because the second stage will not be re-entering Earth orbit:
Assuming a successful LRR (Launch Readiness Review), Falcon 9 will again soar over Florida skies tomorrow morning.
Payload
According to ESA, “Hera is a planetary defence mission under development at the European Space Agency. Its objectives are to investigate the Didymos binary asteroid, including the very first assessment of its internal properties, and to measure in great detail the outcome of NASA’s DART mission kinetic impactor test. Hera will provide extremely valuable information for future asteroid deflection missions and science; increasing our understanding of asteroid geophysics as well as solar system formation and evolutionary processes.”
SpaceXwill have a live stream of the launch on its website. This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about fifteen 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
Since the launch is during the morning, a lot of options are available for spectators: Jetty Park, the Banana River Bridge on FL 528 W or the southern Titusville parks on Washington Avenue / US-1 are your best bets.
Cocoa Beach will have great views of the launch once it clears any obstructions from the rising rocket and a viewer’s location.
Playalinda Beach is several miles north of the launch pad, but ignition and of course the flight of the rocket are visible from that location. If you go, go early in case the crowds are heavy.
This flight is one where the booster will be expended after its duty cycle. This is being done in order to get the maximum performance possible out of the launch vehicle. That in mind, there will be no sonic boom in the Space Coast region for a returning booster.
The “Big Vent” event at T-minus twenty minutes for a Falcon 9 rocket is a common sight here on the Space Coast. This is liquid nitrogen being vented out of the propellant fill lines. The clouds are condensation and are harmless. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
United Launch Alliance successfully launched its second Vulcan rocket this morning from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The launch was not a perfect one, however, as Vulcan survived a very close call when one of the two solid-rocket boosters on the first stage partially failed and lost its nozzle in flight.
Despite a partial loss of thrust from the errant SRB, ULA’s flight software and engineering teams were able to make corrections to trajectory of the rocket as it continued to ascent.
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