SpaceX is making ready to launch its newest Falcon 9 rocket on a Starlink mission as Tropical Storm Helene threatens the timeline for the subsequent mission to the Worldwide House Station.
Liftoff of the Starlink 9-8 mission from Vandenberg House Pressure Base in California is about for 9:01 p.m. PDT (12:01 a.m. EDT, 0401 UTC). This will probably be SpaceX’s sixty fourth Starlink launch of the yr.
Spaceflight Now may have reside commentary starting about half-hour previous to liftoff.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail quantity B1081 within the SpaceX fleet, will probably be launching for a tenth time. It beforehand supported the launch of two missions to the area station (Crew-7 and CRS-29), two local weather monitoring satellites (NASA’s PACE and ESA’s EarthCARE) and the Transporter-10 rideshare mission.
Somewhat greater than eight minutes after liftoff, B1081 is about to land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Nonetheless Love You.’ If profitable, this would be the 103 booster touchdown for OCISLY and the 351st booster touchdown to this point.
Among the many 20 Starlink V2 Mini satellites flying on the mission are 13 that characteristic the Direct to Cell functionality. A profitable deployment of all satellites will deliver the whole DTC Starlink satellites launched to 233.
Starlink’s high-speed web is now out there in Burundi! 🛰️🇧🇮❤️→ https://t.co/p23nRZUB2C pic.twitter.com/mHtu5ZNVum
— Starlink (@Starlink) September 24, 2024
On Tuesday morning, SpaceX introduced that the Republic of Burundi was the most recent to nation to obtain entry to the Starlink web service. In a submit on X, previously Twitter, Lauren Dreyer, the vice chairman of Starlink Enterprise Operations, posted in regards to the improvement, which comes a couple of yr after she and one other SpaceX consultant visited Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye to debate the proposal.
“Nice to see Burundi reside for Starlink gross sales. Finally yr’s UN Common Meeting, I had the chance to satisfy President Ndayishimiye to debate this chance,” Dreyer wrote. “We respect everybody who helped make it a actuality.”
The announcement was first shared by Burundi’s Telecommunications Regulatory and Management Authority on Monday. ARCT Director Common Samuel Muhizi stated in a letter (written in French and translated utilizing Google Translate) that the objective of bringing the service was “to contribute to the availability of high-speed and dependable web entry in our nation and will probably be accessible to all people and companies wishing to learn from the service.”
“The ARCT stays dedicated to carefully monitoring Starlink’s operation to make sure compliance with present laws, guarantee optimum high quality of service and shopper safety,” Muhizi wrote in his letter as translated by Google Translate. “Our objective is to advertise equitable entry to communication applied sciences. ARCT is satisfied that the addition of this low Earth orbit satellite tv for pc web entry provision to the Burundian ecosystem of entry applied sciences to supply high-speed web connection will enhance broadband connectivity.”
Crew-9 climate delay
Whereas the West Coast SpaceX staff is making ready for the Starlink 9-8 launch, these on the East Coast are working in direction of the subsequent crewed launch to the ISS. On Tuesday, NASA and SpaceX had been set to stroll by way of the dry costume rehearsal with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov within the loop.
Following that, SpaceX will carry out a static fireplace take a look at of B1085 at House Launch Advanced 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station. These preparations will pave the way in which for the primary crewed launch from SLC-40 in its historical past.
Nevertheless, whereas the prelaunch actions are remaining on observe, the impacts of Tropical Storm Helene are altering the launch timeline. In its fifth advisory, meteorologists with the forty fifth Climate Squadron forecast the storm to develop into a Class 1 hurricane by Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC) as the middle of the storm enters the Gulf of Mexico.
They forecast Helene to method landfall alongside the Florida Panhandle as a Class 3 hurricane round 8 p.m. EDT (0000 UTC) on Thursday, Sept. 26.
A number of sources affirm that the Crew-9 launch is about to delay to no sooner than Saturday, Sept. 28. As of publication, neither NASA nor SpaceX have publicly introduced the adjustment in launch dates.
When it launches, Hague and Gorbunov will be part of these on the ISS to develop into a part of Expedition 72. They’ll stay on orbit till about February 2025 when they may return to Earth alongside NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams.
Falcon 9 and Dragon rolled out and went vertical at pad 40 in Florida pic.twitter.com/RUGF1UBxLK
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 24, 2024
