Falcon 9 booster on eighth flight Oct. 30 takes off from Pad 40 of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Monday carrying 23 more satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink internet service, bringing the total number of Starlink satellites currently in orbit to more than 5,000. Takeoff from pad 40 took place at 7:20 p.m. EDT (2320 UTC).
On Sunday night, the countdown reached T-30 seconds when an abort was called. The launch director said a problem was discovered with the system used to separate the first and second stages of the rocket, and the launch was postponed until Monday.
The Falcon 9’s second stage leaves a spectacular flare in the sky as it climbs into orbit. The separated halves of the payload fairing are visible as two bright dots. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now. After liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Falcon 9 aimed for a southeast trajectory and aimed for an orbit inclined 43 degrees to the equator.
The first stage booster, on its eighth flight, successfully landed on a drone ship Just Read The Instructions east of the Bahamas about eight and a half minutes after launch.
The booster, tail number B1077, made its first flight in 2022. in October, carrying Crew 5 to the International Space Station Dragon Endurance. He has flown the GPS III F6, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28 and Intelsat G-37 missions and two previous Starlink launch flights.
The 23 Starlink satellites were deployed into a 182 × 177-mile (293 × 285 km) orbit 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 38 seconds after launch.
Photo of SpaceX’s Starlink V2 Mini satellites at the Cape Canaveral Payload Processing Facility. Credit: SpaceX The mission brings the number of Starlink satellites currently in orbit to 5,011, a statistic compiled by Jonathan McDowell.
Tonight’s launch was SpaceX’s 90th orbital mission in the past 365 days, roughly every four days. Company officials said they expect to accelerate the pace of launches and 2023. perform 100 flights, and in 2024 their number will increase to 144.
