SpaceX Starlink Group 4-34 Launch

SCANALYZER The Happening World
, ,
1

Update: Well, yes…and here we go again. The 2022-09-18 launch attempt was scrubbed, the fifth in a row, presumably due to weather, and the next try is scheduled for 2022-09-19 at 01:18 UTC, which is in the evening of the 18th in western hemisphere time zones. (2022-09-18 00:10 UTC)

Update: The fourth launch attempt on 2022-09-17 was with a weather forecast of 40% acceptable, but SpaceX went ahead to see if they could beat the odds. Alas, this was not their day and once again the launch was scrubbed, this time at the one minute mark before launch, after propellant loading was complete. The next launch opportunity is to-morrow, 2022-09-18 at 00:43 UTC (evening of the 17th in western hemisphere time zones). (2022-09-17 01:20 UTC)

Update: On 2022-09-16 SpaceX made another launch attempt, this time going through fuelling and countdown to 30 seconds before launch before calling a weather scrub due to rain and lightning in the vicinity of the launch pad. They’re going to try again at 01:05 UTC on 2022-09-17 (evening of the 16th in western hemisphere time zones). (2022-09-16 11:01 UTC)

Update: Another 24 hour slip due to weather. Revised launch time is 2022-09-16 at 01:27 UTC. (2022-09-15 01:28 UTC)

Update: The Starlink launch opportunity for 2022-09-14 was called off due to lightning in the vicinity of the launch pad. The launch has been rescheduled for 2022-09-15 at 01:48 UTC, which is in the evening of the 14th in western hemisphere time zones. The embedded Webcast player still shows the old launch time and SpaceX has posted no new player. If one appears, I will include it in this post. (2022-09-14 11:06 UTC)

SpaceX plans to launch 54 Starlink satellites into Shell 4, with an eventual 540 km circular service orbit at 53.22° inclination, on 2022-09-14 at 02:10 UTC, which is in the evening of the 13th in some western hemisphere time zones. This will be the sixth flight of Falcon 9 booster B1067, with a turn-around time of 62 days since its last flight. The launch will be from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Weather is currently forecast as 70% favourable for launch.

Here is a pre-flight preview from Everyday Astronaut.

2 Likes
2

As an aside, it appears less expensive for Iridium to have Falcon 9 launch long-stored spare satellites than to pay to keep storing them.

Or, iridium is worried about availability of future launch contracts, if a sudden need arises.

4 Likes
3

The sixth time was the charm, and the 2022-09-19 launch and mission was a complete success, with SpaceX confirming that all 54 Starlink satellites were deployed, all equipped with the laser inter-satellite links.

I have cued the replay video to start one minute before liftoff.

2 Likes