For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM
PLAYALINDA BEACH/CANAVERAL NATIONAL SEASHORE, FL – SpaceX successfully launched another batch of Starlink broadband internet satellites to orbit on a cool Thursday morning, Oct. 20, from Cape Canaveral into heavily overcast Sunshine State skies on a veteran 10x flown Falcon 9 booster.
The heavy payload of 54 Starlink satellites on the 4-36 mission blasted off on the 10x recycled Falcon 9 booster B1062 – which also nailed its 10th landing on a droneship at sea eight minutes later and thereby setting up another reuse likely in the near future.
The Starlink satellites will benefit everyday users on land, at sea and in airplanes, as well as play a significant role in the Ukrainian military fight against the barbaric Russian invasion and unprovoked aggression started in February this year.
Liftoff of the veteran Falcon 9 booster B1062.10 on the Starlink 4-36 mission carrying 54 more Starlinks to orbit took place under significantly overcast cloud cover at 10:50 a.m. EDT (1450 GMT) Thursday, Oct. 20, from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, during an instantaneous launch window.
The 229-foot-tall (69-meter) Falcon 9 lifted off flawlessly with ignition of all 9 Merlin 1D engines performing perfectly and generating 1.7 million pounds of liftoff thrust soaring aloft on a northeasterly trajectory tracking along the US East Coast.
The rocket disappeared quickly into thick low clouds and skywards towards the obscured sun and rumbled very loudly.
Following stage separation and payload fairing jettison The Starlink satellites were deployed as planned approx. 15 minutes after liftoff.
The Starlink 4-36 launch was SpaceX 48th of the year and a record breaker for most launches of a single type vehicle in a year – as the Falcon 9 – as trumpeted by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk –
“Congrats to @SpaceX team on 48th launch this year! Falcon 9 now holds record for most launches of a single vehicle type in a year.
Plus with congrats tweeted by ULA CEO Tory Bruno
Congratulations
— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) October 21, 2022
SpaceX is targeting to launch some 60 rockets this year – at a rate of a bit more than once per week
To date SpaceX has launched 3505 Starlink satellites including prototype and test version according to a tabulation from astronomer Jonathan McDowell
Many but not all of them are still operating however
Currently about 3200 are in orbit and some 2700 are functioning, per McDowell.
The booster B1062.10 soft-landed on the ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’ (ASOG) drone ship about eight and a half minutes after liftoff, with two landing burns and it was prepositioned east of Charleston, South Carolina and about 400 mi (640 km) downrange of the Cape.
A recovery ship also will pluck the two payload fairing halves from the ocean for reuse on a later mission
The first stage booster B1062 supporting this mission previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04 on its 1st mission on Nov. 5, 2020, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, and then two astronaut missions for Inspiration4, Ax-1, followed by Nilesat 301, and four Starlink missions – most recently on the Starlink 4-27 mission on Aug. 19, 2022.
Early in the war SpaceX and Elon Musk enthusiastically supported Ukraine and provided huge quantities of free Starlink ground terminals and internet service access for the war effort against Russia’s invasion that helped the Ukrainian government military enormously.
https://twitter.com/spideycyp_155/status/1580806527975591936
In recent weeks however Musk tweeted comments on Oct 7 that called into question his support of Ukraine, requesting funding from the US military or the SpaceX support might end support and seemed to side with Russia in its territorial annexation of four Ukrainian eastern and southern provinces
Bad reporting by FT. This article falsely claims that Starlink terminals & service were paid for, when only a small percentage have been.
This operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year.
As for what’s happening on the battlefield, that’s classified.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2022
SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2022
After an expose by CNN, Musk seemed to relent and agree to continue financial and hardware support of Ukraine.
The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2022
Watch Ken’s commentary about Crew-5 and Project Artemis, NASA SLS WDR demo test, NASA SpaceX Crew & Cargo Dragons and more
Oct 12: WFTV ABC News Orlando featured my commentary about NASA setting new launch date for Artemis 1 in mid-November and Dennis Tito, the 1st space tourist, plans to fly around the moon on a commercial SpaceX reusable Starship mission in a few years
Link to commentary about Dennis Tito mission:
Oct 5: Two Fox 35 interviews –
Live prelaunch interview on Fox 35 Orlando about NASA Crew-5 launch: ‘Whats’ the purpose of the Crew-5 mission”
https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/1126638
Post-launch interview with Fox 35 Orlando about successful Crew-5 blastoff to ISS on Oct 5
Oct 3: Interview with Fox 35 Orlando previewing the Crew-5 mission
Watch Ken’s commentary about Crew-4 & Crew-5 and Project Artemis, NASA SLS WDR demo test, NASA SpaceX Crew & Cargo Dragons and more
Oct 12: WFTV ABC News Orlando featured my commentary about NASA setting new launch date for Artemis 1 in mid-November and Dennis Tito, the 1st space tourist, plans to fly around the moon on a commercial SpaceX reusable Starship mission in a few years
Link to commentary about Dennis Tito mission:
Oct 5: Two Fox 35 interviews –
Live prelaunch interview on Fox 35 Orlando about NASA Crew-5 launch: ‘Whats’ the purpose of the Crew-5 mission”
https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/1126638
Post-launch interview with Fox 35 Orlando about successful Crew-5 blastoff to ISS on Oct 5
Oct 3: Interview with Fox 35 Orlando previewing the Crew-5 mission
Sep 27: Live interview on Fox 35 Orlando about why NASA rolled the Artemis1 moon rocket stack off pad 39B and back into the VAB as a safe haven from threat of Hurricane Ian approaching central FL and Space Coast and the launch date impact
https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/1123047
Sep 26/27: Watch my interview comments at WFTV ABC News and Fox 35 Orlando about why NASA has decided to roll $4 Billion Artemis1 moon rocket back to VAB protective processing hangar from pad 39B due to Hurricane Ian approaching and the launch date impact
WFTV ABC Orlando: https://www.wftv.com/news/local/brevard-county/nasa-move-artemis-1-rocket-vab-over-hurricane-ian-concerns/X5NFTUGF45DBBFDNCHX7MSYXTE/
Fox 35 Orlando: https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/nasa-to-move-artemis-i-rocket-back-to-vehicle-assembly-building-due-to-hurricane-ian
Sep 25: Update on Artemis 1 launch with my live half hour interview on WKMG CBS 6 Orlando with news anchor Justin Warmoth on ‘The Weekly’: “Artemis I: Explaining NASA’s latest repairs and the mission’s greater significance”
Watch Ken’s continuing reports about Artemis, SpaceX missions, SLS, Orion and NASA missions, SpaceX Crew and Cargo Dragons, SpaceX Axiom-1, JWST, IXPE, DART, Lucy Asteroid mission, GOES, SpaceX Starlink, Commercial Crew and Starliner and Crew Dragon, Blue Origin and Space Tourism, and onsite for live reporting of upcoming and recent SpaceX and ULA launches including Crew 1 & 2 & 3 & 4, ISS, Solar Orbiter, Mars 2020 Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, NRO spysats and national security missions and more at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
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Upcoming and recent space events and talks by Ken Kremer & Jean Wright
Oct 29/30 from 7 to 9 PM Quality Inn, Titusville, FL: Join Ken and Jean for Artemis 1, Falcon Heavy and space mission and rocket launch outreach. Ask us anything. plus display our photos and space apparel items for sale
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