A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch on its record-tying 14th mission Saturday (Nov. 12), and you may watch the motion dwell.
SpaceX is scheduled to launch Intelsat’s Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station throughout a two-hour window that opens at 11:06 a.m. EST (1606 GMT). You’ll be able to watch dwell right here at House.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company (opens in new tab).
Will probably be the 14th liftoff for this Falcon 9’s first stage, tying a SpaceX file. The booster additionally helped loft Demo-2, SpaceX’s first-ever astronaut flight, in Could 2020; the RADARSAT Constellation Mission; the SXM-7 spacecraft for SiriusXM; and 10 huge batches of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, the corporate wrote in a mission description (opens in new tab).
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This may apparently be the booster’s closing flight, nonetheless; SpaceX’s mission description says nothing in regards to the rocket coming again to Earth for a protected touchdown.
If all goes in line with plan, Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 can be deployed into geosynchronous switch orbit about 33 minutes and 38 minutes after liftoff, respectively. The duo will assist Intelsat refresh its communications fleet, the corporate stated on its website (opens in new tab). The high-speed satellites symbolize a “new technology of know-how” for patrons that largely embrace tv broadcasters, Intelsat officers acknowledged.
Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 will substitute older North American-focused satellites in geosynchronous orbit, which means they may stay constantly above one space of Earth.
This would be the second Intelsat launch in a month for SpaceX, which lofted the Galaxy 33 and Galaxy 34 satellites utilizing a Falcon 9 rocket on Oct. 8. (That was the 14th mission for that Falcon 9’s first stage as nicely, by the best way.)
On the time, Intelsat officers stated the 2 Galaxy satellites will present recent capabilities in C-band, a radio frequency vary that Galaxy 31 and 32 may also use.
Saturday’s launch would be the 52nd general for SpaceX in 2022, including to the corporate’s rising single-year file (which had been 31, set in 2021). The approaching mission may also be the forty eighth flight utilizing a beforehand flown Falcon 9 rocket this 12 months.
The overwhelming majority of SpaceX launches this 12 months have served to develop the corporate’s monumental Starlink satellite-internet constellation. However SpaceX has additionally launched different firms’ satellites to orbit, in addition to cargo and crew missions to the Worldwide House Station with Falcon 9s in 2022.
As well as, the SpaceX flew its Falcon Heavy on Nov. 1. The mission, which lofted payloads for the U.S. Space Force, was the primary flight of the highly effective rocket since June 2019.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a e book about space drugs. Observe her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
