SpaceX is making ready for its second return to flight mission in as many months with a Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Area Drive Base. The launch of 21 Starlink satellites comes simply days after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) quickly grounded the Falcon fleet amid an investigation right into a failed booster touchdown try on Wednesday.
Liftoff of the Starlink 9-5 mission from Area Launch Advanced 4 East (SLC-4E) is ready for 9:58 p.m. PDT (12:58 a.m. EDT, 0458 UTC). That is poised to be the primary of two back-to-back in a single day launches.
Spaceflight Now may have stay protection starting about half-hour previous to liftoff.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail quantity B1081 within the SpaceX fleet, might be launching for a ninth time. It beforehand supported the launches of the Crew-7 astronaut mission to the Worldwide Area Station, two climate-related spacecraft (PACE and EarthCARE) and a nationwide safety mission for the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace.
A bit of greater than eight minutes after liftoff, B1081 is ready to land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Nonetheless Love You.’ If profitable, this would be the 99th touchdown on OCISLY and the 342nd profitable booster touchdown.
Among the many 21 Starlink satellites onboard are 13 that characteristic Direct to Cell capabilities. This can mark the 59th devoted Starlink launch in 2024 and the 122nd launch of the V2 Mini number of Starlink satellite tv for pc.
Again to flight (once more)
Whereas SpaceX was quickly grounded from launching its Falcon 9 rockets, this go round was dramatically shorter than the paused brought on by an higher stage anomaly in July, which lasted about two weeks. SpaceX was grounded for simply a few days after one among its boosters, B1062, did not land safely amid the Starlink 8-6 flight on Wednesday.
The touchdown failure was the primary misfire on this manner because the Starlink L19 mission in February 2021.
“The SpaceX Falcon 9 automobile might return to flight operations whereas the general investigation of the anomaly through the Starlink Group 8-6 mission stays open, supplied all different license necessities are met,” the FAA mentioned in a press release on Friday. “SpaceX made the return to flight request on Aug. 29 and the FAA gave approval on Aug. 30.”
SpaceX wasted no time in getting again to the launchpad. Within the hours following the FAA’s assertion, the corporate introduced plans to launch the Starlink 9-5 and 8-10 missions from VSFB and Cape Canaveral Area Drive Stanton respectfully.
The previous of these two was initially billed because the second act of back-to-back scheduled launches on Wednesday. Nonetheless, after the booster touchdown anomaly, SpaceX determined to carry off on launching the Starlink 9-5 flight.
SpaceX can also be making an attempt to find out when subsequent it might probably try the launch of its subsequent Crew Dragon mission: Polaris Daybreak. On Thursday, SpaceX mentioned it was nonetheless working to determine a launch date that might have a positive climate setup for a splashdown off the coast of Florida about 5 days after launch.
Newest forecasts proceed to point out unfavorable climate circumstances within the areas alongside Florida’s coast the place Dragon would splash down upon getting back from house. As soon as groups determine the subsequent greatest alternative for launch and return of the Polaris Daybreak mission, we’ll present an replace.… pic.twitter.com/f0ZJpcbQf7
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 30, 2024
