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Following a few weather-related delays, the Falcon 9 efficiently lifted off at 2:19 AM ET (06:19 UTC) and pitched down vary to the South East to ship 22 second-generation Starlink satellites, also called Starlink V2 mini-satellites.
These 22 V2 satellites had been deployed simply over an hour after launch right into a 43-degree orbital inclination as a part of Group 6-3. These V2 satellites are bigger than the V1.5 satellites, with the V1.5 weighing in at round ~306 kg (675 lbs) and the V2 mini-satellites weighing in at 800 kg ( 1,800 lbs).
SpaceX plans to launch Falcon 9 from each the East and West coasts hours aside
Due to this weight distinction, the Falcon 9 can solely accommodate 22 of those satellites, however every of those offers a lot larger capabilities than their predecessors. The V2 mini Starlinks are in a position to make use of a minimum of 4 occasions extra bandwidth than the V1.5 per satellite tv for pc and have higher on-orbit maneuvering due to new argon Corridor thrusters.
Falcon 9 2nd stage continues to orbit as the first stage completes its entry burn below the Milky Approach (Richard Angle)
The Falcon 9 finishing this mission was B1076 on its fifth flight, beforehand supporting CRS-26, OneWeb #16, Starlink 6-1, and Intelsat 40E/TEMPO. Roughly eight and half minutes after launch, B1076 landed on the droneship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.”
This booster probably set the report for probably the most mass despatched to orbit for a Falcon 9 at 17.6 metric tons and nonetheless being able to a profitable touchdown on the droneship. As soon as SpaceX returns this booster to Port Canaveral, it will likely be delivered to Hangar X at Kennedy Area Middle, the place it will likely be transformed to a Falcon Heavy aspect booster for the EchoStar 24 launch, at the moment scheduled for August of this 12 months. The booster wasn’t the one flight-proven {hardware} for this launch, the fairing halves had been on their eighth flight general and shall be scooped out of the ocean by restoration ship ‘Doug’.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship pic.twitter.com/yBjjF8J52x
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) Could 19, 2023
SpaceX had additionally tried to launch a Falcon 9 with the Iridium OneWeb rideshare payload from Vandenberg Area Pressure Base this morning. Nevertheless, the countdown was aborted at T-55 seconds. It’s at the moment unknown what the difficulty was but when doable, SpaceX will attempt once more tomorrow roughly across the similar time, 6:15 AM PT (13:15 UTC).
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