SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites on Feb. 21 after more than three-fourths of the satellites from the previous launch were lost because of a solar storm.
A Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 9:44 a.m. Eastern after a one-day delay because of recovery weather.
The Falcon 9 upper stage deployed its payload of 46 Starlink satellites 62 minutes after liftoff, although confirmation of a successful deployment didn’t come until about 20 minutes later because of a lack of ground station coverage.
A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with 46 of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 9:44 a.m. EST (1444 GMT), soaring into a clear, blue sky.
About nine minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage came back down to Earth for a vertical touchdown on SpaceX’s drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean a few hundred miles off the Florida coast.
It was the 100th Falcon 9 rocket landing for SpaceX and the company’s 107th landing overall, including touchdowns by Falcon Heavy boosters. (The company aced its 100th overall landing back in December.)
The launch Monday was the first of three SpaceX launches scheduled over the next 10 days for the Starlink internet network, continuing the company’s pace of averaging around one launch per week since the start of the year.
A 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket ignited nine Merlin 1D engines at 9:44:20 a.m. EST (1444:20 GMT) and rumbled away from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, kicking off SpaceX’s seventh mission of 2022.
The nine kerosene-fueled engines accelerated the rocket on a trajectory southeast from Cape Canaveral with 1.7 million pounds of thrust. Within a minute, the Falcon 9 had surpassed the speed of sound as it rocketed through a crystal clear sky.
The first stage’s nine engines shut down two-and-a-half minutes into the flight. Moments later, the booster jettisoned from the Falcon 9’s second stage, beginning maneuvers to return to Earth for a landing on SpaceX’s drone ship parked near the Bahamas around 400 miles (650 kilometers) downrange from Florida’s Space Coast.
SpaceX has at least two more launches scheduled over the next two weeks. Starlink 4-11 could launch from the company’s California pad as early as 7:40 am PST (15:40 UTC), February 25th, and is expected to use Falcon 9 booster B1063, which will be flying for the fourth time.
Subsequently, as early as ~1 pm EST (18:00 UTC), on March 3rd, Falcon 9 B1060 is reportedly scheduled to launch Starlink 4-9, becoming the third SpaceX booster (after B1051 and B1058) to perform eleven orbital-class launches.
Barring weeks of delays, B1060 will beat B1058’s average of one launch every 57.5 days, launching 11 times in just over 20 months or once every 55.5 days. It will likely be at least half a year until the next SpaceX booster (B1061) crosses the 10 or 11-flight mark.
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