Update 10:04 p.m. EST (0304 UTC): SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 22 Starlink satellites.
SpaceX completed its first of three planned Falcon 9 launches before the end of year. The trio began with a Starlink mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The Starlink 11-3 mission added another 22 V2 Mini satellites to the megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) happened at 5:58:30 p.m. PST (8:58:30 p.m. EST, 0158:30 UTC).
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1075 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for a 16th time. It previously supported the launches of Transporter-11, SARah-2 and 12 Starlink missions.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1075 touched down on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ which was positioned in the Pacific Ocean. This marked the 115th booster landing on OCISLY and the 388th booster landing to date.
SpaceX has one more Starlink mission scheduled before closing out 2024. The Starlink 12-6 is positioned to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at midnight to begin Dec. 30, barring weather or technical delays.
In between these Starlink flights, SpaceX will make another attempt at launching the ‘Astranis: From One to Many’ from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The company had a pad abort during the Dec. 21 launch attempt, which prevented the launch.
Without any fanfare, or explanation on the root cause of the issue, SpaceX decided to switch the booster being used on the Astranis flight. It swapped out B1077 and brought up B1083 in its place.
Assuming all three launches can take place before New Year’s Day, SpaceX will close out 2024 with a total of 134 orbital launches using its Falcon family of rockets, which is 10 shy of the company’s goal set at the beginning of the year. Two of that total were Falcon Heavy flights with the rest being Falcon 9 launches.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s Vice President of Launch, noted that achieving these three will also mark “a record quarter for both Falcon and SpaceX.” The company is on track to complete 41 orbital launches this quarter.
We’re now targeting 134 launches – two shy of our last goal – to finish 2024 strong, with a launch from each pad and a record quarter for both Falcon and @SpaceX.
Ultimately, there is only one number that truly matters. ZERO failures. Our priority is – and will remain – safety… https://t.co/b3YO1Fm839
— Kiko Dontchev (@TurkeyBeaver) December 27, 2024
Related Post
