SpaceX set for third consecutive Starlink launch [webcast]

Update: SpaceX says a Falcon 9 rocket is on track from Starlink 4-11 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California (VSFB) not before (NET) 9:12 a.m. PST (17:00). 12 UTC) on Friday, February 25. The mission will be the third of five consecutive Starlink launches planned for February and March 2022.

Instead of ready-to-fly commercial missions, SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets are currently scheduled to launch at least five batches of Starlink satellites in a row.

The streak won't break the company's record of seven consecutive Starlink launches, but it does highlight a beneficial side effect of SpaceX's relentless pursuit of vertical integration — the ability to create its own launch order. Just two full months into 2022, the launch SpaceX seven times — three times for paying customers and four for Starlink. Before February ends, the company is set to launch at least one more Starlink satellites for a total of eight launches in the first two months of the year.

Then, SpaceX Starlink 4-11 is scheduled to launch from the SLC-4E facilities of California-based Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) no later than (NET) 9:08 a.m. PST (17:08 UTC). ), Friday, February 25. The unmanned vessel Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) left the port of Long Beach for the mission on February 22 and headed about 640 kilometers (400 miles) southeast to a booster landing area off the coast of Baja California. It is scheduled to Falcon 9 Booster B1063 is supporting the mission — its fourth launch overall and first since it helped launch NASA's DART asteroid redirect spacecraft into interplanetary space in November 2021.

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Next, another Falcon 9 rocket Starlink 4-9 is scheduled to launch as early as "midmorning" EST Thursday, March 3 from the Kennedy Space Center LC panel -39A. Booster B1060 is said to be slated to support the mission and would become SpaceX's first stage to support eleven orbital-class launches if that were the case. Starlink 4-9 could be the platform's last mission for a few weeks to give SpaceX enough time to convert the vector/erector The rockets to launch Axiom-1 on March 30, which will send four private astronauts to the International Space Station.

Finally, SpaceX plans to launch Starlink 4-10 NET on Tuesday, March 8 from Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). SpaceX will likely launch at least another Starlink mission next month, But no exact date has been set yet. Finally, including Starlink 4-7 (February 3) and Starlink 4-8 ​​(February 21), SpaceX is on track to launch at least five Starlink missions in a row, and hopefully It puts about 240 satellites (~200 after the loss of most of Starlink 4-7 to a "geomagnetic storm") into orbit in less than five weeks.

More of a sign of no ready-to-fly commercial missions than anything else, SpaceX's record for ongoing Starlink missions—set from February to April 2021—is seven launches. Technically, SpaceX has already managed 12 Starlink launches between February and March, with just one commercial mission — Crew-2 — separating the group. Surprises aside, fortunately, SpaceX is unlikely to hit a similar streak in 2022.

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There's a chance SpaceX will launch a batch of three O3B mPower satellites for SES next month. At a minimum, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a trio of Dragon missions within Next two months or so, starting with Ax-1 NET on March 30. Crew Dragon is scheduled to launch its last Crew-4 for NASA on April 15, followed by a resupply mission to Cargo Dragon 2's CRS-25 space station on May 1. Excluding the Starlink missions and on top of the three commercial launches SpaceX has already completed this year, there are up to 38 additional Falcon commercial launches tentatively scheduled before the end of 2022.

SpaceX set for third consecutive Starlink launch [webcast]