Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to launch two Starlink communications satellite cluster missions from Florida in one day Thursday -- the first time in history for such a feat by a launch company.
The first launch is planned at 1:19 a.m. EST from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, followed by another just over four hours later at 5:36 a.m. EST from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Two Falcon 9 rockets are prepared and topped with 60 of the company's own Starlink communications satellites for their trips to low-Earth orbit.
As usual, SpaceX plans to host a live broadcast for each mission, which normally begin 10 to 15 minutes before liftoff time.
Weather for the launch attempts will be nearly ideal, according to the U.S. Space Force forecasts from nearby Patrick Space Force Base. Conditions in the Atlantic Ocean, where SpaceX intends to recover the first-stage booster for each launch, also are mostly favorable.
The dual Starlink launches follow SpaceX's fiery test flight Tuesday in Texas of its deep-space Starship prototype rocket. That test saw the prototype fly to over 6 miles high, only to descend into a fireball as one of the three Raptor engines appeared not to ignite.
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Hawkeye 360 deploys next-generation radio frequency sensing satellites
Herndon VA (SPX) Feb 02, 2021
HawkEye 360 Inc., the first commercial company to use formation-flying satellites to create a new class of radio frequency (RF) data and data analytics, has announced that Cluster 2 - the company's second cluster of satellites - has successfully been deployed into orbit. After launching aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 this Sunday morning, the trio of satellites was dispensed from Spaceflight Inc.'s Sherpa-FX orbital transfer vehicle and has established communications with the HawkEye 360 satellite oper ... read more