SpaceX is targeting Sunday, September 4 for a Falcon 9 launch of 51 Starlink satellites and Spaceflight’s Sherpa-LTC, an orbital transfer vehicle, to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 10:09 p.m. ET.

This mission will carry Spaceflight’s propulsive Sherpa-LTC2 space tug, which will climb into a higher orbit with Boeing’s Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission, a pathfinder for a planned constellation of broadband satellites.

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched Arabsat-6A, STP-2, COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2, KPLO, and two Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff HERE

Thanks for the post and liftoff time, Rocky. I'll watch. I love to see those things lift off. I can't imagine the power it takes to get one into orbit.

L.W.

If there are no clouds, I can see it go up from my driveway.

Leanwolf, I've been on-site for something like 125 launches. It was always entertaining to watch the faces of first-timers. First, there's the blinding light, and then the sound gets there. When that peaks, you can literally feel your liver moving under the impact. People go wide-eyed and slack-jawed because it is SO much more intense than they imagined. At the really big ones like the Shuttle and Falcon Heavy, the ground literally moves under your feet. Even I can't imagine what it'll be like during SpaceX's upcoming Starship launches with double the liftoff thrust of anything that's ever flown to date.

Everybody should go there to experience it.

BTW, at my first launch - an Atlas - I was only 6,000 feet away. And I'm sure I went wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

Your comments bring back a long, almost forgotten memory.

It was the late 60s, the Apollo launches were the rage of the day.
I was 10 years old, sitting in my Grammer school class listening to my teacher, Philip Stillwell trying to explain Newtons Laws of Motion.


"For every action there is a equal and opposite reaction" he stated.

Newton's third law states that when two bodies interact, they apply forces to one another that are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.

He went on to explain how he felt NASA's Apollo launches were sure to knock the earth from it's axis due to the extreme thrust involved with the rockets. He told us how the slightest bit of change in the tilt of the earth could effect our weather and seasons greatly.

I was as enthralled with the Apollo launches as I was Philip's teaching. Those Apollo Astronauts were Rock Stars back then.
You could buy 8x10 glossy photos of them at the grocery register.

Maybe Philip was on to something with his theories, maybe he was more a crackpot, either way he was a hell of a teacher.
If a student can recall a lesson 55 years later, he was sure teaching.

Mr Stilwell unfortunately labored under the misconception that rockets have to "push against" something to fly. They do not. Rockets operate by the equal but opposite law in that they move forward by "throwing" huge amounts of mass backwards. That mass is composed of gasses, but those gasses are moving at several times the speed of sound and gather much momentum thereby.

The earth, not being "pushed against" does not change its spin or orientation due to a rocket launch. (If it did, it would be infinitesimally unmeasurable due to the difference in mass between the planet and rocket.)

I kinda figured that out over the years.

Still loved having him for a teacher.

I ran into Mr Stillwell about 12 years ago.
I was at my nephews high-school football game watching him play.
He came up behind me in the bleachers and tapped me on the shoulder.
He called me by name and asked if I remembered him.
We spent most the game chatting, he'd recently retired after 40 years of teaching in that same school.

After all those years and all the kids how the hell did he recognize me and remember my name, it'd been 40+ years.

I'll give him a break on his goofy theories..

Everything looking good for the launch. Webcast coming up in a few minutes. HERE

Why can't NASA get theirs off the ground?

Because it is the very first launch of an entirely new vehicle and there are bugs to work out.

Cloud cover mid state between me and the Cape.

Years ago, they committed to diversity hires and embraced the climate change hoax.

Because .gov.

Good launch, good orbit, and good landing.

👍

I love to watch this. The landing on a ship is great.

Yes it was. Would guess Elon could drop a nuke right down a ChiCom missile silo if asked.

Might add, the chick doing the MC, probably has some engineering creds, but sounded smok'n hot. Waiting for the SpaceX fold -out.......

Thanks for the heads-up and link Rocky.

Rocky, I watched it. Just now switched off and came here. The announcer said before the launch that there were a million lbs of fuel and oxygen aboard. How much of that is burned to get the main vehicle into the orbit they want?

Thanks for the link. Amazed as usual at the liftoff and technology to get it into orbit.

L.W.

Exactly^^^