SpaceX sent another group of Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit early this evening from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. Liftoff was at 5:10 PM EDT under stiff breezes and crystal blue skies.
SpaceX and Falcon 9 lofted another twenty Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral into low Earth orbit tonight. Liftoff was at 5:47 PM EDT.
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.
SpaceX is scheduled to launch another set of Starlink satellites aboard a Falcon 9 early on Saturday evening from Space Launch Complex 40.
Keep in mind that launch dates and times change often. Launch attempts can be scrubbed anytime due to weather, technical reasons, or range conditions.
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.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the agency responsible for commercial spaceflight, has announced that SpaceX may resume regular launches of Falcon 9.
The FAA notified SpaceX on Oct. 11 that the Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to regular flight operations. The FAA reviewed and accepted the SpaceX-led investigation findings and corrective actions for the mishap that occurred with the Crew-9 mission (Sept. 28).
Also on Oct. 11, FAA closed the SpaceX-led investigations for the Falcon 9 mishaps that occurred with the Starlink 9-3 (July 11) and Starlink 8-6 (Aug. 28) missions.
The FAA, October 11, 2024
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 on September 28, 2024, 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.
Due to what SpaceX labeled as an “off-nominal de-orbit burn” the second stage used for the Crew 9 flight missed its landing area, resulting in SpaceX announcing nearly immediately that it had experienced an anomaly and that it was grounding the vehicle while it investigated the issue. On September 29, the FAA announced that was requiring an investigation and that until complete, the federal agency would not issue the vehicle any new launch licenses. In effect, this “grounded” Falcon 9.
The FAA did grant SpaceX a license for the ESA Hera launch on October 7, saying that there was no risk to public safety because the mission did not dispose of its second stage by deorbiting it in Earth’s atmosphere.
Ever the masters of threading the weather needle, SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 on its way to orbit and the Hera probe on its way to the Didymos binary asteroid system impacted by NASA’s DART probe on September 26, 2022. Hera will return to the system for further investigations, including deploying two small landers.
About twenty minutes before Falcon 9 launches, the propellant plumbing is cleared.
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.
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.
Later, ULA CEO Tory Bruno would say that the SRB had “an observation” and he added quickly that the mission was a success.
Vulcan uses Northrop Grumman-built GEM 63XL solid rocket boosters to provide additional thrust for the vehicle and to increase its capabilities. GEM motors have a long history of usage, and the 63XL edition was flying its third and fourth flights. Two other GEM 63XLs flew with no problem on Vulcan Cert-1.
Later on X.com, Tory Bruno stated, “All missions have propellant reserves. We add to that additional propellant margins based on the mass [and] the configuration of the rocket. Because this was compensated for within reserves, this anomaly was ‘invisible’ to the rocket.” Bruno credited “Robust design and well engineered avionics” for the resilience of Vulcan, and indeed, it is one of the very few rockets launched that had an SRB failure and still successfully completed their mission.
Video starts at t-minus five minutes.
The next launch from Florida is a tricky call: SpaceX and the FAA have “paused” Falcon family launches while the company investigates issues with Falcon 9s second stage — there was an “off-nominal” performance of the Crew 9 second stage after the astronauts had separated from the launch vehicle when the stage was relit to de-orbit and reenter Earth’s atmosphere.
At this time, SpaceX has not announced a return to flight for Falcon rockets, and the FAA has not yet released a safety determination on the Crew 9 event that would allow SpaceX to resume flights.
Both of those could come at any time, however, and given the short stand-downs earlier in the summer with other Falcon issues, odds are good that this delay will be shorter rather than longer.
Should SpaceX announce Falcon 9 returning to action, its next scheduled launch is for the European Space Agency and the Hera mission. According to ESA, “As part of the world’s first test of asteroid deflection, Hera will perform a detailed post-impact survey of the target asteroid, Dimorphos – the orbiting moonlet of a binary asteroid system known as Didymos.”
“Now that NASA’s DART mission has impacted the moonlet, Hera will turn the grand-scale experiment into a well-understood and repeatable planetary defence technique. Demonstrating new technologies from autonomous navigation around an asteroid to low gravity proximity operations, Hera will be humankind’s first probe to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system and Europe’s flagship Planetary Defender.”
United Launch Alliance is planning to launch its second Vulcan rocket early tomorrow morning from Space Launch Complex 41. Liftoff is currently scheduled for 06:00 AM EDT, with a launch window that extends to 09:00 AM EDT the same day.
The launch is planned for about 75 minutes before sunrise, and if liftoff occurs before the sun peeks over the horizon, the expanding gases of the second stage may produce a spectacular display.
ULA announced yesterday the mission has been cleared to proceed.
According to the company, “The LRR, led by ULA Launch Director Eric Richards, was completed this morning at the Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC).”
“Leadership from ULA and the Space Force assessed the readiness of the rocket, payload and mission assets, discussed the status of pre-flight processing work, heard technical overviews of the countdown and flight, and previewed the weather forecast that projects a 75 percent chance of meeting the launch rules.”
“At the conclusion of the meeting, senior leaders were polled and gave a ready status for launch, then signed the Launch Readiness Certificate.”
The 45th Weather Squadron has listed a 20% Probability of Violation for tomorrow’s launch, which means that the weather is expected to be 80% GO at launch time.
In this case, the mission is the payload.
CERT-2 is designed to be the second and final demonstration flight of Vulcan. The key objective for CERT-2 is to validate the performance of the Vulcan rocket and to demonstrate to the Department of Defense that the Vulcan flight system is ready for national defense and surveillance payloads.
Aside from the flight characteristics and performance of the Blue Origin BE-4 booster, ULA will also gauge the performance of its Centaur V upper stage. The stage was redesigned for Vulcan and proving its abilities and reliability is also a critical piece of the certification process.
CERT-2 was originally scheduled to carry the Sierra Space Dream Chaser ‘Tenacity’ on its maiden flight, but ULA was forced to switch to an inert payload for CERT-2 due to Dream Chaser not being ready for flight. Dream Chaser is currently scheduled to fly sometime in 2025, but no launch date has been announced. Currently, the spacecraft is at Kennedy Space Center undergoing flight preparations.
Eastwards, relatively speaking. Vulcan is destined for a heliocentric orbit around the sun, so it will take a path that lines up with the equator.
SpaceCoastLaunchCalendar.com will have a livestream of the launch if you’re not able to watch the launch in person: Livestream
ULA will have a livestream of the launch on their website: ULA Cert-2 Mission Page. This will also be available on the Youtube platform. Coverage will start about about twenty minutes prior to liftoff.
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
For official updates regarding launch times, ULA’s Cert-2 Mission Page 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.
Given that this is a launch from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-41, Jetty Park, The Banana River Bridge and southern Titusville Parks are your best bets.
Cocoa Beach and the northern Titusville parks will have an excellent view as well.
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