SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying the Northrup Grumman NG-20 mission towards ISS this afternoon. The launch was at 12:07 PM EST from the company’s launch pad at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and once it had completed its part of the mission, Booster 1077 completed its tenth flight when it safely touched down at Landing Zone 1, about 5.6 miles to the south of where it launched a little more than eight minutes earlier.
On Tuesday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, sending over 8,000 pounds of supplies aboard a Northrup Grumman Cygnus cargo craft to the International Space Station. This was NG’s 20th resupply mission.
Enjoy this 4K video with Surround Sound of the launch, as it was seen from inside the fence at Pad SLC-40. The video was created by the author:
SpaceX sent another batch of 23 Starlink satellites for their orbital-based Internet service tonight from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 booster. The mission was designated Starlink 6-37, part of Group 6 of Starlink satellites providing global Internet connectivity to the company’s customers.
SpaceX plans to launch another batch of Starlink satellites aboard a Falcon 9 to its LEO Internet service constellation on Saturday, January 13, 2024. The launch window opens at 7:52 PM EST and closes early Sunday at 12:23 AM. The launch will be from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Weather is a slight concern for the launch as a warm front pushes storms through the area today.
Southeast, as has been customary for Starlink’s Group 6 launches.
One day before launch, the 45th Space Wing forecasts a 70% chance of acceptable weather, with a 30% Probability of Violation that would force a scrub.
As always, it bears keeping in mind that a rocket launch can be scrubbed (canceled) up to and including the final minute of the countdown. Those scrubs may result from weather violations, intrusion into the excluded areas beneath the planned flight path or technical issues that arise during the countdown. Stay tuned to launch coverage for up-to-date information.
SpaceX will begin live-streaming the launch on their X account about five minutes before liftoff.
Spaceflight Now usually begins their live coverage about one hour prior to liftoff on their YouTube channel.
After eight days of bad weather cleared from Space Coast skies, SpaceX got right back to work and sent a Falcon 9 to orbit from Pad SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Monday evening. Tonight’s payload was another 33 Starlink satellites with the mission designation Starlink 6-34.
This evening, SpaceX announced the date for the next attempt to launch Falcon Heavy carrying USSF-52 / X37-B from Kennedy Space Center: December 28th. After announcing the date, SpaceX added on their website that the planned launch window extends from 7:00pm – 11:00pm that night.
SpaceX launched 54 Starlink satellites this morning from Cape Canaveral, closing out the 2022 launch schedule for Florida. It was yet another picture-perfect launch.
Skies were clear enough this morning to where we could see the second stage for six-ish minutes. There’s a small gap between the end of the first stage’s powered ascent and the ignition of the second stage. My aim in this photo was to capture as much as possible of the second stage, and it succeeded from that perspective.
On Saturday, May 14 at 4:40 p.m. ET, SpaceX launched Starlink satellites to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Click for three more photos…
At the end of World War II, Cape Canaveral was a quiet, sleepy place. The fishing village wasn’t much of a tourist destination, Banana River Naval Air Station was in disuse, and would close in September 1947 where it would be placed in a caretaker status.
That would change, however, on September 1, 1948, when the former naval air station was transferred to the newly formed US Air Force. In 1949, it was renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground, and was designated as the launch point for the military’s efforts to develop long range missile weapons.
It took until July 1950 for a rocket launch to happen at the new JLRPG. According to the NASA/US Army publication NIX 66P-0631, GPN-2000-000613:
“Bumper 8 was an ambitious two-stage rocket program that topped a V-2 missile base with a WAC Corporal rocket. The upper stage was able to reach then-record altitudes of almost 400 kilometers, higher than even modern Space Shuttles flown many years later. Launched under the direction of the General Electric Company, the Bumper Project was used primarily for testing rocket systems and for research on the upper atmosphere. Bumper rockets carried small payloads that allowed them to measure attributes including air temperature and cosmic ray impacts.”
I set up my GoPro on the beach to record the scene on Playalinda Beach when SpaceX launched Starlink 4-16.
I set up for a wide angle view to capture the entire first stage portion of the flight — it made everything look further away than it actually was, but all in all, yeah, this is what its like to see a launch from here.
Playalinda is far better for launches from Pad LC-39A, as it is much closer than SLC-40 or SLC-41, but overall, it’s still a really good place to come. After all, you’re on one of the most beautiful beaches in Florida, and it’s really not crowded, even when the parking lots are full.
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