Starlink Mission

[6Foot2]

 

SpaceX is targeting Saturday, May 15 for its next Starlink mission launching aboard Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous window is at 6:56 p.m. EDT, or 22:56 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Sunday, May 16 at 6:33 p.m. EDT, or 22:33 UTC. On board this mission are 52 Starlink satellites, a Capella Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, and Tyvak-0130.

 

The Falcon 9 first stage booster that supported this mission previously launched NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and three Starlink missions. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be located in the Atlantic Ocean. One half of Falcon 9’s fairing previously supported the SXM-7 mission, and the other previously supported the NROL-108 mission.

 

Landing of the fist stage on the drone ship at (about) 24 minutes 32 seconds. Two ride along deployments occur with no action in the view of the camera, and later Starlink satellite deployment is at (about) 1 hour 54 minutes 29 seconds.

[russlp]

Would love to go watch a launch one day!

[6Foot2]

Would love to go watch a launch one day!

 

Quite a few years ago now, I tried to go to a shuttle launch. The closest I could get was six miles away.

 

Even then, I could feel the roar of the engines in my chest, and the exhaust was bright enough to give me a residual image for some time after.

 

It's something I'll never forget, even though it is somewhat attenuated compared with the experience that might have been.

[Andrew_C]

In 1973 I watched the second crew launch to Skylab. My father had worked with the crews at Johnson Space Center (sic) in Houston.

 

The rocket was the Saturn 1b, baby brother of the Saturn 5, but it still shook the ground and made my chest vibrate