22 Starlink V2 mini-satellites launched into low Earth orbit Saturday evening, bringing the whole number launched to five,005.
SpaceX, having just launched the Crew 7 within the early hours Saturday morning, then turned their attention to Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force station where a Falcon 9 was awaiting launch with 22 Starlink satellites.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/SMg27dBgmd
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 27, 2023
Following a smooth countdown, the Falcon 9 launched to the Southeast at 9:05 p.m. ET (01:05 UTC on the twenty seventh). A bit extra attention was pointed toward the entry burn, as in the course of the Crew 7 launch, it seemed a bit off-nominal, which has yet to be confirmed by SpaceX.
The entry and landing burns were as expected, and the primary stage landed on the droneship ‘Just Read the Instructions.’ The 2 fairing halves of the Falcon 9 were plucked from the ocean by recovery ship ‘Doug’ and returned to Port Canaveral Monday afternoon.
The second stage continued on and entered into its parking orbit and coasted for ~46 minutes before reigniting its Merlin 1D Vacuum engine for 1 second, simply enough for the right orbit.
The 22 Starlink satellites, Group 6-11, then separated from the second stage an hour and five minutes after lift-off right into a 43-degree orbital inclination.
The Falcon 9 that accomplished this launch was Booster 1080. B1080, a rookie of the fleet, accomplished its third flight, having previously flown in the course of the Axiom 2 mission and the Euclid Space Telescope mission.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship pic.twitter.com/7AXYbB63Vw
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 27, 2023
It also seems that SpaceX has opted to now not have hosted webcasts for Starlink missions. This was the 2nd Starlink mission to not feature a bunch and only provided video and mission control callouts. Nonetheless, each of the missions have been on the weekend, so it’s possible they might return hosted webcasts during weekday launches.
As of now, SpaceX has 1 more launch from Florida this month, the Starlink 6-13 mission scheduled for NET than the evening of August thirty first. The droneship ‘Just Read the Instructions’ has already departed and shall be clear of the Space Coast as Tropical Storm Idalia is approaching the state. SpaceX has already sent Dragon recovery ship Megan further South to avoid bad weather.
The subsequent launch for SpaceX shall be from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Transport and Tracking Layer (Tranche 0, Flight 2) is scheduled for no sooner than August thirty first at 7:30 a.m. PT (14:30 UTC) and can feature an RTLS back at LZ-4.