SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket on a Starlink flight at dusk from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
(Image source: space.com)
With the successful completion of three Falcon 9 flights and the third test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday, SpaceX began another hectic week. Launching 22 Starlink satellites from its pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday, the business achieved a noteworthy accomplishment.
At 7:28 PM PT (10:28 PM ET, 02:28 UTC), the Falcon 9 rocket of the Starlink 7-16 mission blasted out from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E).
Tail number B1075 in the SpaceX fleet, the first stage booster of the Falcon 9 used on this flight, made its tenth launch. Along with seven other Starlink missions, it has already launched two missions for the U.S. Space Development Agency.
The SpaceX droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” received B1075’s landing just over eight minutes after it took off. Presently, it was the 285th SpaceX rocket landing and the 86th landing on OCISLY.
Tail number B1075 in the SpaceX fleet, the first stage booster of the Falcon 9 used on this flight, made its tenth launch.
Along with seven other Starlink missions, it has already launched two missions for the U.S. Space Development Agency.
The SpaceX droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” received B1075’s landing just over eight minutes after it took off. Presently, it was the 285th SpaceX rocket landing and the 86th landing on OCISLY.
While this mission is being worked on, SpaceX and NASA are getting ready to launch a Cargo Dragon from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida’s Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40). This is the thirty-first voyage that SpaceX will conduct to deliver science and cargo to the orbiting outpost as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.
The fact that this mission will be the first to launch a second-generation Dragon spacecraft from SLC-40 to the International Space Station makes it unique as well. Operations moved to pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center once the first-generation Dragon was retired after the CRS-20 mission in March 2020. The first Dragon capsule was launched aboard the first Falcon 9 rocket from the site in 2010.
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