Space-X to Livestream a 64 satellite Rideshare Launch on Sunday

They will be flying a Falcon 9 for the third time from Vandenberg. It previously flew in May and August of this year. A SpaceX photo of it preparing for tomorrow's launch is below. The plan is to recover it this time on SpaceX's Pacific "droneship" out in the ocean. The payload is 64 small satellites, from groups who are sharing the cost.

The launch window is from 10:32 AM PST to 11:00 AM PST tomorrow. (1:32 PM EST to 2:00 PM EST) It will be livestreamed here:

https://www.spacex.com/webcast

Deploying so many satellites should be entertaining.  

Their customer (a Seattle based space rideshare company!) describes the mission:

"A total of 64 spacecraft from 34 organizations will be launched as part of the Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission. The SmallSat Express is the largest single rideshare mission from a U.S. based launch vehicle to-date... The mission includes 15 microsats and 49 cubesats... The payloads, which vary from technology demonstrations and imaging satellites to educational research endeavors, are from 17 countries, including the U.S., Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, U.K., Germany, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Poland, Canada, Brazil and India."

http://spaceflight.com/sso-a/

Private industry still playing catch-up to India's record, set early last year.

Record-breaking 104 satellites launched into space by a single rocket
https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/14/14601...anet-doves

PSLV-C37
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSLV-C37

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Oops.... the SSO-A launch originally scheduled for today has been pushed back to tomorrow, Monday Dec 3. Same time, 10:32 AM PST (1:32 EST). Same place for the live webcast.

According to SpaceX's twitter page, a technical fault has developed with the second stage and additional inspections are underway.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX

(Dec 2, 2018 06:52 PM)Yazata Wrote: Oops.... the SSO-A launch originally scheduled for today has been pushed back to tomorrow, Monday Dec 3. Same time, 10:32 AM PST (1:32 EST). Same place for the live webcast.

According to SpaceX's twitter page, a technical fault has developed with the second stage and additional inspections are underway.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX

Elon's been sharing: https://www.fastcompany.com/90233474/elo...ng-podcast

The next couple of days will be busy with lots of interesting space-related livestreams.

Not only will SpaceX hopefully be lofting the commercial launch from Vandenberg using a twice-flown Falcon9 Monday (tomorrow). They apparently have a bi-coastal back-to-back scheduled, with an unmanned Dragon 1 supply capsule lofted by a pristine unused Falcon9 destined for the Space Station due to launch from Cape Canaveral Tuesday.

And Roskosmos has their Soyuz boosters back in business, after the recent accident. They will be launching Expedition 58, a manned Soyuz carrying three astronauts (an American, a Canadian and a Russian) from Baikunur tomorrow (Monday), also destined for the Space Station.

https://www.nasa.gov/launchschedule/

NASA will be livestreaming the Soyuz launch on NASA TV tomorrow from Kazakhstan, at 6:31 EST. (3:31 PST, I don't expect to be up to watch it live.)

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

When they get done with that, they aren't finished.

At 8:45 AM PST/11:45 EST tomorrow (Monday), Osiris Rex will be arriving at the tiny asteroid Bennu, and NASA TV will livestream coverage from Mission Control at Lockheed Martin in Colorado.

I hope that SpaceX will stream the cargo Dragon launch on Tuesday. (10:38 AM PST/1:38 PM EST) The booster landings are always the most interesting part of those.

The three Expedition 57 astronauts (an American, a German and a Russian) currently up on the Space Station will be returning by Soyuz capsule on Dec 20. (Dunno if there will be any TV of that. The landing will occur in remote Kazakhstan.)

Another upcoming event is the first unmanned demonstration flight of the SpaceX Dragon2 (the crew Dragon) on Monday January 7. SpaceX is certain to provide live video of that.

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(Dec 2, 2018 08:20 PM)Syne Wrote: Elon's been sharing: https://www.fastcompany.com/90233474/elo...ng-podcast

Figuring out those complicated wiring harnesses is always a lot easier after a joint and a few shots of Jack.

The now veteran booster just launched on its third spaceflight carrying its 64 little micro-sats. (I wonder if SpaceX charges less to use a twice-flown booster. I see that NASA is using a brand new one for its supply flight to the space station tomorrow. A rookie.) The old-timer veteran booster apparently already knows the drill, since it nailed its third landing, right in the middle of the SpaceX 'X' on the landing barge off the coast of central California. Couldn't have performed better.

In other space news, the Soyuz carrying the three astronauts launched successfully last night. (I didn't watch as it was the middle of the night local time.) Just a few hours later the Soyuz capsule arrived at the space station and there was some pretty dramatic live video from both the station and the capsule as the capsule flew entirely around the space station, assumed a station-keeping mode on the spaceward side (with the blue earth moving by beneath the station) and then slowly and carefully approached. Capture was confirmed, the capsule was locked down and pressure equalized so that the hatch could be opened.

And the Osiris Rex spacecraft has arrived at asteroid Bennu.