Starlink Satellite Launch Postponed Online Tonight To Conserve Backup Time – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Starlink 4-26 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 53 Starlink broadband satellites. follow us Twitter.

SpaceX is counting down the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket and 52 Starlink internet satellites Tuesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The commercial mission is scheduled for launch at 10:14 p.m. EDT (0214 GMT) into low Earth orbit, and the Falcon 9 reusable first stage will aim to land on an offshore unmanned vessel.

The launch team missed the launch opportunity at 18:57 EDT (2257 GMT) due to unfavorable upper level winds. Tuesday has a 70 percent chance of weather suitable for launch, according to the US Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.

The Falcon 9 rocket will fly northeast of Kennedy Space Center to deliver packed broadband relay stations into orbit between 144 miles and 208 miles (232 x 338 kilometers). About 15 minutes after launch, 52 flat-pack satellites will be deployed from the Falcon 9 upper stage.

With Tuesday’s Starlink 4-26 mission, SpaceX will launch 3.09 Starlink internet satellites, including prototypes and test units that are no longer in service. Tuesday’s launch marks SpaceX’s 54th mission, primarily focused on putting Starlink’s internet satellites into orbit.

The SpaceX launch team, stationed in a gunnery at Kennedy Launch Control Center, will begin loading ultra-cold, condensed kerosene and liquid oxygen engines into the 70-meter Falcon 9 for the 35-minute T-Minus.

Helium pressure will also flow into the rocket for the last half hour of the countdown. During the final seven minutes before takeoff, the Falcon 9 Merlin’s main engines undergo thermal adjustment for flight through a process known as “chilldown.” The Falcon 9’s command and control and field safety systems will also be configured for launch.

After launch, the Falcon 9 rocket will direct 1.7 million pounds of thrust – generated by nine Merlin engines – into the northeast Atlantic.

The rocket will exceed the speed of sound in about a minute and will shut down its nine main engines two and a half minutes after launch. The booster stage will fire from the Falcon 9’s upper stage, then unleash pulses from cold gas thrusters and deploy the titanium grid fins to steer the craft back into the atmosphere.

Two brake burners will slow the rocket as it lands some 400 miles (650 kilometers) aboard the “A Shortfall of Gravitas” drone after about eight and a half minutes of liftoff.

It will launch the Starlink 4-26 mission’s flying booster, known as B1073, on its third flight into space. It debuted in May on an earlier Starlink launch, then flew again on June 29 on commercial television satellite SES 22.

Tuesday’s mission’s first-stage landing will come shortly after the Falcon 9’s second-stage engine stopped to launch Starlink satellites into orbit. The 52nd spacecraft, built by SpaceX in Redmond, Washington, is scheduled to separate from the Falcon 9 rocket for a T+ duration of 15 minutes and 24 seconds.

The support rails are launched from the Starlink payload stack, allowing the flat-packed satellites to fly into orbit freely from the Falcon 9 upper stage. The 52 spacecraft will launch and power the solar arrays through automated activation steps, then use krypton-powered ion thrusters to maneuver into their operational orbit.

The Falcon 9 guidance computer aims to deploy the satellites in an elliptical orbit with an orbital inclination of 53.2 degrees to the equator. The satellites will use onboard thrust to do the rest of the work to achieve a circular orbit 335 miles (540 kilometers) above Earth.

Starlink satellites will fly in one of five orbital “envelopes” in different directions to SpaceX’s global internet. Upon reaching operational orbit, the satellites will enter commercial service and begin transmitting broadband signals to consumers who can purchase the Starlink service and connect to the network through a SpaceX-provided ground station.

Rocket: Falcon 9 (B1073.3)

Payload: 52 Starlink satellites (Starlink 4-26)

Starting place: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Fla

lunchtime meeting: August 9, 2022

Start time: 10:14:40 p.m. EST (0214:40 GMT)

Weather forecast: 70% chance of acceptable weather; low risk of high winds; Reduced risk of conditions unfavorable for enhanced recovery

Recovery from Reinforcement: Drone ship named “A Shortfall of Gravitas” east of Charleston, South Carolina

AZIMUTH START: the northeast

target track: 144 miles by 208 miles (232 kilometers by 335 kilometers), 53.2 degree miles

Start timeline:

• T+00:00: take off
• T+01: 12: maximum air pressure (Max-Q)
• T+02:26: 1st stage of main engine shutdown (MICU)
• T+02:30: Stage separation
• T+02:36: Ignite the engine in the second stage
• T+02:41: Break free from the calm
• T+06:45: Ignition of the burning entrance to the first stage (three engines)
• T+07:06: First stage combustion shutdown
• T+08:19: 1st stage burner ignition (single engine)
• T+08:43: Second stage engine shutdown (SECO 1)
• T+08:44: First stage landing
• T+15:24: Starlink satellite separation

Job Stats:

• 169th Falcon 9 launch since 2010
• The Falcon family’s 177th launch since 2006
• Third launch of Falcon 9 Booster B1073
• Falcon 9 146 was launched from the Florida Space Coast
• SpaceX53 launched from platform 39A
• 147th total publication by Board 39A
• Flight 111 of the reused Falcon 9 booster
• The launch of the 54th dedicated Falcon 9 with Starlink satellites
• The 35th launch of Falcon 9 in 2022
• SpaceX’s 35th launch in 2022
• The 35th orbital launch attempt launched from Cape Canaveral in 2022

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