Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire SPACEX Launch this evening

SpaceX is targeting Sunday, February 28 for launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous window is at 8:37 pm Eastern.

The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting this mission previously flew on seven missions: the Iridium-8 mission, the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission, and five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be located in the Atlantic Ocean. One half of Falcon 9’s fairing previously flew on three Starlink missions, and the other half previously supported two Starlink missions.

You can watch a live webcast of this mission, which will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff, by clicking HERE

Thanks for the heads up.

No matter how many times I see those boosters land it is still amazing. I hope that never wears off.

T minus 3:00

Aborted at T-1:24. I'll post a re-schedule date and time when I learn it.

Next launch opportunity is tomorrow at 8:15p EST.

Just got an email I can sign up to get starlink internet! Gotta be better than a Verizon Hotspot!

Thanks RR.

Next attempt will be tonight at 8:15 pm Eastern.

Delay #9 if I count right... Due to poor weather conditions in the recovery area and to allow additional time for pre-launch checks, now targeting Tuesday, March 2 at 7:53 p.m. EST for launch of Starlink.

And yet again...

Now targeting no earlier than Thursday, March 4 for launch of Starlink due to a Range conflict and unfavorable launch and recovery weather.

I genuinely feel sorry for the poor guys and gals out on the recovery ships. Not enough time between delays to come back in, so they've been lurching around in high seas now for days, with no end in sight.

Rocky, While you are waiting for someone to light the fuse on the alleged rocket...you may bask in the glory of righteousness. Arizona Gunslinger hotsauce is as good or better than you predicted.

You think they have worn out their copy of "The Abyss"

They are pretty much in the position of the support ship except the catchers MItt has to be horrible in heavy weather....
How wide is it I wonder...

Thank you, flintlocke; it IS damn good!

There are at least four ships out there for each launch. There are two to catch the nose fairing, one for people who manage the drone barge, and an ocean-going tug to tow that barge out and back. There's a lot of maintenance, I'm sure, but they can do only so much chipping and painting (as any Navy swab can tell you.)

Watched it go up and it did stick the landing.

But they still have some work to do because it blew up after touchdown.

Had to be disheartening to see that and watch it catch fire and go boom.

They get better every time they try it.

That's a different vehicle. It's their Starship, the vehicle they will eventually fly to Mars. This one was test vehicle #10. I did not post notice of it because as a test program, there is no set launch time other than "sometime between 9 am and 6 pm". They are indeed getting better at it every time, and it is an extremely ambitious and difficult program. Early word is that the landing legs did not deploy correctly, causing the whole rocket to land on its flimsy skirt - which in turn led to the fuel leak and kaboom about five minutes after touchdown. (Vids on YouTube and HERE )

The launch notice I posted is for one of their Falcon 9 rockets and another set of Starlink broadband satellites. It flew successfully a few hours after the SN10 test -- which surprised me. They had previously announced it would go "no earlier than Thursday."