SpaceX scraps double launch on same day, Starlink satellites to lift off today
1 min read . Updated: 17 Dec 2022, 11:04 AM IST
PremiumA pair of internet communications satellites was launched on Friday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for its customer SES, while SpaceX's own Starlink satellites were lifted off from Kennedy Space Center today.
SpaceX has successfully launched the Falcon 9 satellite on Friday, which was initially scheduled to take off along with the launch of Starlink satellites on the same day. Earlier, the launch of Falcon 9 satellites and Starlink satellites was scheduled with a time gap of 35 minutes.
If both the launches would have been taken place on the same day, it could've created a record for the quickest turnaround between orbital launches.
A pair of internet communications satellites was launched on Friday from the Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for its customer SES, while SpaceX's own Starlink satellites were lifted off from Kennedy Space Center today.
Taking to Twitter, the company also informed that Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship.
“SpaceX is targeting Saturday, December 17 for a Falcon 9 launch of 54 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 4:32 p.m. ET (21:32 UTC)," the company's website read.
“The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3, and nine Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean," it added.
Space X also informed that a live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff today.
Earlier on Sunday, SpaceX also launched a private mission to the moon with a Japanese lander and United Arab Emirates rover. A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Japanese lander, HAKUTO was one of five finalists in the international Google Lunar XPrize competition, a challenge to land a rover on the Moon before a 2018 deadline.
The US space agency NASA wants to develop the lunar economy in the coming years by building a space station in orbit around the Moon and a base on the surface.
