Starlink Launch

[Yazata]

B1062 took off for its 11th time this morning and then landed successfully on ASOG. This is SpaceX's final Falcon 9 launch for the year.

It was SpaceX's 60th successful Falcon 9 launch this year. 60 in 52 weeks, easily beating SpaceX's planned cadence for the year of one a week. Without any failures!

Their goal for next year is reportedly 100 launches (better than one every four days)!

The payload on this one was a bit of a mystery. It was 54 "Version 1.5" Starlinks. There was some speculation that it might be the roll-out of the "Version 2 minis", the more powerful planned Starlinks intended to be able to communicate directly with cell-phones. (The full-capacity Version 2's are too large for a Falcon 9 and are waiting for Starship.) But the fact that this launch carried 54 suggests that these aren't much more massive than Version 1 Starlinks, so it doesn't appear to have been Version 2 minis.

(SpaceX photo)

[Image: FlDxKfDaYAEYEVQ?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]

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I Lied!

I just learned that SpaceX has a 61'st Falcon 9 launch scheduled for this year, on Dec 30th, from Vandenberg.

[Yazata]

B1061 went vertical today at Vandenberg Space Force Base, in preparation for its 11'th trip to space. Its job this time is to loft an Israeli Earth observation satellite called EROS-C3. Apparently this satellite has both civilian and military uses.

Launch is supposed to be 11:17 PM PST on Dec 29, 2:17 AM EST Dec 30. Landing at LZ-4 at Vandenberg

But... California has been stormy and weather looks exceedingly iffy for this launch, so it might not happen. (If it happens, it would be Falcon-9's 61'st launch of the year.)

[Image: FlL4U3KaMAEaSCI?format=jpg&name=small]

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/V0OQfukN-Ec

[Yazata]

Welp, weather was cloudy but B1061 had already flown 10 times and has it down. Beautiful launch, satellite in good orbit, and booster came back and landed at Vandenberg. It was B1061's 11th flight and it makes 61 successful Falcon-9 launches for the year! (Better than one a week!) Very reliable broomstick!

They say that they want to do 100 launches next year.