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Tag: Vandenberg Space Force Base

  • SpaceX Saturday Starlink launch on schedule

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    Sept. 13 (UPI) — SpaceX is scheduled to launch its Falcon 9 rocket Saturday, which will deliver 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.

    Liftoff from launch site SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California remained on schedule Saturday morning, with ignition expected to occur at 1:55 p.m. EDT, SpaceX confirmed on its launch schedule page.

    The California-based space technology company’s latest mission will carry another 24 V2 Mini satellites operated by its Starlink telecom subsidiary.

    SpaceX will live stream the operation on X, beginning around five minutes before liftoff, which will mark the company’s 42nd launch from California this year.

    The mission will bring the total number of Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit to more than 8,400.

    The California-based space technology company’s latest mission will carry 24 V2 Mini satellites operated by its Starlink telecom subsidiary. File Photo courtesy of SpaceX

    The flight will also mark the 28th for this first stage booster, with the Falcon 9 rocket having previously propelled 16 Starlink missions, as well as several other satellite transportation flights.

    The rocket also took part in NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission in 2022, which conducted a global survey of nearly all water on Earth’s surface.

    Rocket separation is expected to occur a little over eight minutes into the flight.

    Following the launch, the rocket will land back in the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast, where it will be recovered by the company’s Of Course I Still Love You droneship.

    SpaceX also has a launch set for Sunday, when a separate Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida carrying Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus mission 23 to the International Space Station.

    Two more Starlink launches are also scheduled to lift off next week Wednesday and Thursday.

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  • SpaceX launch pushes 2025 Starlink satellite deployments past 2,000

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    Sept. 6 (UPI) — SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday to deliver 24 Starlink V2 mini satellites, with the company now deploying more than 2,000 such satellites to space in 2025.

    The rocket lifted off at 2:05 p.m. EDT from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base and used the same first-stage Falcon 9 booster rocket that had completed 19 previous launch missions.

    Prior missions by the Falcon 9 booster, number B1075, include 16 batches of Starlink satellites, a transporter mission and delivery of 10 satellites into low Earth orbit for the U.S. Space Development Agency.

    The booster rocket successfully landed eight minutes and 19 seconds after launch on the drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You, which was positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

    The landing on the autonomous drone ship was the 149th for that vessel and the 501st SpaceX landing on a drone ship, according to Spaceflight Now.

    A second-stage booster continued to ferry the Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit before its engine cut off 53 minutes and 35 seconds after launch, followed by deployment of each of the 24 satellites.

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