SpaceX continues its incredible pace with the launch of twenty-two V2 mini Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This launch marked the 77th mission of the yr for the corporate, with 50 of those being Starlink satellite missions.
With two more months left in 2023, SpaceX is on pace to eclipse 90+ launches in a calendar yr. No other company or country is currently anywhere near the quantity of hardware SpaceX has launched into orbit this yr.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/yC4VCU7SuJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 29, 2023
While a overwhelming majority of those payloads have been Starlink satellites, SpaceX continues to be launching critical missions for NASA, including crew rotations and re-supply missions to the International Space Station to communications satellites for personal firms.
The 22 Starlink satellites which can be currently going through checkouts were deployed from the second stage of the Falcon 9 just over an hour after the lift-off and were inserted right into a 53-degree orbital inclination. With this launch, SpaceX has now launched over 4,900 Starlink satellites into orbit.
As for the Falcon 9 entrusted with this mission, Booster 1075 took the job, completing its seventh mission after only a 34-day turnaround, previously having launched a Starlink mission on September twenty fifth. Following its portion of the flight, B1075 landed on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” eight and a half minutes after lift-off.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship pic.twitter.com/yNEifkWCPa
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 29, 2023
SpaceX had planned back-to-back launches with one other Starlink mission from Florida, but with just 30 seconds left within the count, an abort was called.
The launch director announced that the abort was called attributable to “stage sep center pusher accumulator pressure slope check during terminal count” being the explanation behind the delayed launch. SpaceX will give it one other try later tonight and is currently targeting 7:20 p.m. ET (23:20 UTC on the thirty first). If SpaceX isn’t capable of launch on the opening of the window, they’ve multiple opportunities until 10:22 p.m. ET.