In perhaps the most vivid launch for spectators so far in 2024, SpaceX launched another twenty-three Starlink Mini V2 satellites to orbit after successfully launching the Starlink 6-59 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station this evening.
Liftoff was at 08:32 PM EDT. Around 8.3 minutes after liftoff, the first-stage booster used for the mission, tail number B1062, touched down safely on ASDS ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’, stationed downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. After landing, B1062 has now flown to space for a record-setting twenty-one times.
A Falcon 9 lifts off from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station File photo by Charles Boyer / ToT
On the heels of the successful launch of Crew-8 from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center late last night, SpaceX is planning to get back to it quickly this evening when they launch the Starlink 6-41 mission from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch window extends from 6:56 PM – 10:54 PM EST.
Weather for tonight’s launch looks good according to the 45th Weather Squadron: only a one-in-five chance of a weather-related delay, meaning that there is an 80% chance of acceptable weather conditions throughout the launch window. According to them, the primary concerns are the “Cumulus Cloud Rule and the Anvil Cloud Rules.”
Trajectory
A southeasern trajectory is expected, with a booster landing in the Atlantic Ocean just east of the Bahamas.
Booster
SpaceX has not announced which booster will be used for this flight at the time of this writing. When that information becomes available, we will add it here.
Landing
Landing will occur on ASDS (Automated Spaceport Drone Ship) A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed offshore and downrange. After Falcon 9’s booster lands safely aboard the vessel, it will return to Port Canaveral and then to SpaceX’s Hangar X facility at Kennedy Space Center for inspection and presumably refurbishment and preparation for its next flight.
Launch Viewing: Online
SpaceX generally provides live launch coverage starting fifteen minutes prior to launch on their account on the X platform. Click here
Spaceflight Now will provide launch coverage one hour prior to liftoff on their YouTube channel. Click here
Crew-8 Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 from left to right, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, mission specialist; Michael Barratt, pilot; Matthew Dominick, commander; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, mission specialist; are photographed inside the crew access arm at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo: SpaceX
NASA announced this morning that “due to unfavorable weather conditions forecast in offshore areas along the flight track, NASA and SpaceX now are targeting Saturday, March 2 at 11:15 p.m. EST for Crew-8 launch.”
Weather here on the Space Coast appears to be acceptable for a launch, and it appears that forecasters have scaled back their rain estimates for the area — down from 40% chances of precipitation overnight to as little as 15%. Unfortunately, the forecasts aren’t as good along the launch corridor, and in the unlikely case of a launch abort, the crew would be descending into unacceptable conditions.
Illustration of forecasted high-altitude winds in the launch corridor of Crew-8 tonight at 12 AM EST. While these are merely estimates, they do illustrate the conditions that the astronauts could face during an abort event. The trajectory of Falcon 9 towards ISS is the yellow line. Forecast: Windy.com
NASA’s Manager of Commercial Crew, Steve Stich, outlined this in a press conference at Kennedy Space Center yesterday. “It’s one of the more complicated times during ascent relative to how we do abort weather,” he said. “We basically have a number of points all across the ascent ground track from the launch pad all the way to orbit insertion. And for each one of those points, we look at a weighted risk.”
Stich also said that “At staging, we look at that location because if you think about all the events that have to happen at staging, when the first stage, the nine Merlin engines shut down, there’s separation and the MVAC engine has to start.”
Should that second stage engine fail to ignite properly, the crew would be in an abort mode and down into weather that NASA and SpaceX officials have deemed too risky to attempt a launch at the original planned liftoff time. Conditions are expected over to improve over the next couple of days as the frontal boundary pushes south.
Saturday’s Weather: Iffy.
Saturday may well end up as a repeat of today: weather will likely still be a concern, and a scrub may be necessitated according to today’s forecast by the US Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron:
A SpaceX Falcon 9 in 2023, about twenty minutes prior to liftoff. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX called off its launch attempt of Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early this evening, around 7:18pm. The company did not share a reason for their decision, but it made the call early, with about ninety minutes left on the countdown clock.
“SpaceX is targeting Sunday, January 14 for a Falcon 9 launch of 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 7:27 p.m. ET with backup opportunities available until 11:25 p.m. ET.”
SpaceX Starlink 6-37 information page. Note: dates and times may be changed on the SpaceX website without notice. Click the link for currently up-to-date information.
The mission, designated as Starlink 5-31, added more Starlink satellites into the burgeoning constellation of over 5,500 small satellites providing Internet access from virtually anywhere on the globe.
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