Write a comment
Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to launch 53 Starlink satellites from Florida late on Friday night, days after the company marked its 20th anniversary.
The company aims to launch the spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:23 p.m. EDT from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff time is instantaneous, meaning any problems could prompt a delay of about 24 hours to Saturday night Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to launch 53 Starlink satellites from Florida late on Friday night, days after the company marked its 20th anniversary.
The company aims to launch the spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:23 p.m. EDT from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff time is instantaneous, meaning any problems could prompt a delay of about 24 hours to Saturday night.
The launch comes as Musk and SpaceX have made multiple deliveries of Starlink terminals to the Ukrainian government for use as it defends against a Russian military invasion.
Mykhailo Fedorov, vice president of Ukraine, tweeted on Friday that his government had received another of several shipments of the terminals, which allow access to high-speed internet via more than 2,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.
"A new batch of Starlink stations! While Russia is blocking access to the Internet, Ukraine is becoming more open to the entire world. Ukraine is the truth. The truth always wins. Thank you, @elonmusk, the Government of Poland, and Orlen," Fedorov tweeted.
Orlen apparently refers to a Polish gas and oil company that may have been involved in getting the terminals to Ukraine.
Weather poses a 30% chance of violating launch conditions, according to a U.S. Space Force forecast.
"Showers will diminish as they reach the coast," forecasters said, adding that cumulus clouds posed the biggest potential issue for the launch.
The first-stage booster for the rocket will be flying for the 12th time, having already boosted eight Starlink missions, the SpaceX Demo-1 uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station, the launch of Canadian RADARSAT spacecraft and the Sirius SXM-7 satellite.
SpaceX intends to recover the booster again after launch by landing it robotically on an uncrewed drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Related Links
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com
|
| Tweet |
| Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution. | ||
| SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly |  | SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once credit card or paypal |
SpaceX launches 48 Starlink satellites amid Ukraine crisis
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 9, 2021
SpaceX launched 48 more of the company's Starlink broadband Internet satellites on Wednesday morning from Florida. The company's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off as planned at 8:45 a.m. EST into a mostly blue sky from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch was SpaceX's 10th in 2022. "Time to let the American broomstick fly and hear the sounds of freedom," a SpaceX launch controller said just before liftoff, referring to comments from the head of the Russian space agency last week after ... read more