SpaceX Will Make History with 60-Satellite Launch Tonight

[Judi Lynn]

SpaceX Will Make History with 60-Satellite Launch Tonight
By Mike Wall 6 hours ago Spaceflight

SpaceX has never launched such a heavy payload.



A previously flown Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink satellite internet satellites stands atop its launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in May 2019.(Image: © SpaceX)

SpaceX will make some history tonight (May 23), if all goes according to plan.

A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket carrying the first 60 satellites in SpaceX's Starlink internet constellation is scheduled to lift off at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT on May 24) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Together, the five dozen spacecraft weigh about 18.5 tons (16.8 metric tons) — more than any other payload that SpaceX has ever launched, company founder and CEO Elon Musk said. (The previous high was 10.6 tons, or 9.6 metric tons, set in January 2017 with the launch of 10 Iridium NEXT communications satellites.)

SpaceX will also be treading new ground with the deployment of this Starlink batch. Rather than rely on 60 distinct spring-based deployment mechanisms, SpaceX will simply spin the satellites off the Falcon 9's upper stage.

More:
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-launch-make-history.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. SpaceX Launching 60 'Starlink' Internet Satellites Tonight: Watch Live

SpaceX Launching 60 'Starlink' Internet Satellites Tonight: Watch Live
By Mike Wall 9 hours ago Spaceflight

There will be a rocket landing as well.

SpaceX plans to launch the first 60 members of its Starlink internet-satellite constellation to low Earth orbit tonight (May 23), and you can watch the liftoff live.

A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT on May 24). Shortly thereafter, the booster's reusable first stage will come back to Earth for a landing attempt on a SpaceX "drone ship" stationed off the Florida coast.

You can catch all the action live here at Space.com courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the spaceflight company.

A successful touchdown, by the way, would be the third for this particular Falcon 9 first stage. The booster also helped launch commercial communications satellites in September 2018 and January of this year.

More:
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-internet-satellite-launch-today.html

[targetpractice]

2. Thanks, Judi Lynn...

My favorite curator of science stories...

This is amazing... 60 satellites at once? I didn't know that was a thing.

[Judi Lynn]

4. It really doesn't seem possible! Thanks, targetpractice. n/t

[WheelWalker]

3. To boldly go...

[Judi Lynn]

5. "Mission accomplished" so far. Just ended the broadcast, heading into dispersing the satellites.

Doesn't seem possible.