This morning (Thursday 8/28) at 4:12 AM EDT (0812 UTC) SpaceX's fleet leader, B1067 flew for the record-breaking 30th mission, launching Starlink mission 10-11, delivering another 28 Starlink V2 Mini broadband internet satellites into the low Earth orbit constellation. The launch site was Pad 39A on the Kennedy Space Center side of Cape Canaveral. Close to 8 minutes 30 seconds after liftoff, B1067 landed on the drone ship ASOG - A Shortfall Of Gravitas. This was the 122nd landing on ASOG and the 495th overall booster landing to date.
With 30 successful missions, it's hard to come up with a short summary of B1067's life, but it's inevitable reporters would try. From Spaceflight Now's summary:
The previous missions for B1067 include two astronaut flights, two cargo missions to the International Space Station and 18 batches of Starlink satellites.
A short post, but only news for a day or so. The previous Falcon 9 mission was yesterday (Wednesday) morning at 7:10 AM EDT (1110 UTC) from SLC-40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and the next launch will be from Vandenberg SFB (Space Force Base, not station) Friday night at 11:09 PM EDT (0309 UTC).
I've never written a fan letter at all, let alone to a rocket, but I almost could.
They jusk keep crankin'. They're that good.
ReplyDeleteSomeday, SiG will write a post on the "final" Falcon 9 launch. End of an era. Sad to see it go.
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