SpaceX plans to launch two Falcon 9 rockets lower than 5 hours aside on Friday (March 17), and you may watch the back-to-back motion dwell.
The present is scheduled to start at 3:26 p.m. EDT (1926 GMT), when SpaceX will launch 52 of its Starlink web satellites to orbit from Vandenberg House Drive Base in California.
Then, at 7:38 p.m. EDT (2338 GMT), a Falcon 9 carrying the SES-18 and SES-19 telecommunications satellites will carry off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
You’ll be able to watch each missions right here at House.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company (opens in new tab).
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Each launches will characteristic rocket landings as effectively: In every case, the Falcon 9 first stage will come down for a landing at sea on a SpaceX droneship lower than 9 minutes after liftoff.
It will likely be the eighth liftoff and landing for the Starlink-launching Falcon 9 and the sixth for the rocket that lofts SES-18 and SES-19, in line with SpaceX.
The 52 Starlink satellites are sure for low Earth orbit, the place they’re going to be a part of more than 3,700 other spacecraft (opens in new tab) in SpaceX’s large broadband constellation.
The Falcon 9 will ship SES-18 and SES-19, against this, to geosynchronous switch orbit. From there, the 2 satellites will make their approach to geostationary orbit, about 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above our planet.
Friday’s launches would be the 18th and nineteenth of the yr already for SpaceX. And the liftoffs will carry on coming: Firm founder and CEO Elon Musk mentioned final summer season that SpaceX may launch up to 100 orbital missions in 2023.
Mike Wall is the creator of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a ebook concerning the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
