Spacex Launch: spacex launch of 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral
Update Mar. 1, 11: 03 p. m. EST (0403 UTC): SpaceX confirms deployment of the 29 Starlink satellites after a spacex launch from Cape Canaveral. The company opened March with successful Falcon 9 launches from both California and Florida on Sunday.
Spacex Launch timeline and milestones
The mission, designated Starlink 10-41, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9: 56: 40 p. m. EST (0256: 40 UTC). The flight was SpaceX’s 22nd mission of the year supporting its broadband internet satellite constellation in low Earth orbit and contributed to a running count of deployments for the month.
Booster and landing details
SpaceX launched the mission using the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number 1078. This flight was the booster’s 26th, following previous missions including Crew-6, Nusantara Lima and USSF-124. Less than 8. 5 minutes after liftoff, B1078 landed on the droneship 'Just Read the Instructions, ' which was positioned in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. That recovery marked the 152nd landing on this vessel and the 580th booster landing for SpaceX to date.
Weather and launch window
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 90 percent chance for favorable weather during the Sunday night launch window, noting a small chance for interference from cumulus clouds. The favorable forecast supported the on-time liftoff from Cape Canaveral and the mission’s north-easterly departure track after a run of mostly south-easterly trajectories over the prior four months.
Other Falcon 9 activity this week
Earlier on Sunday and into Monday, other Falcon 9 flights and preparations were under way. A Sunday morning launch inserted 25 Starlink satellites, bringing the company’s deployments to a total of 566 satellites so far this year. Separately, the mission count included the 570th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket to date; that liftoff from Launch Complex 39A happened at 2: 44 a. m. EST (0744 UTC).
The Starlink 11-10 mission was the sixth orbital launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base this year, with liftoff from pad 4E occurring Monday at 6: 09 p. m. PST (9: 09 p. m. EST, 0209 UTC). Meanwhile, a Falcon 9 rocket was raised into position at pad 39A on Sunday for a customary test firing of its nine first stage Merlin engines; that rocket is being readied for a launch Thursday with a Dragon capsule carrying supplies to the International Space Station.
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SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 29 Starlink satellites at Mar. 1, 11: 03 p. m. EST (0403 UTC), capping the Starlink 10-41 mission that began with liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9: 56: 40 p. m. EST (0256: 40 UTC).
All times referenced in this report use local designations with coordinated universal time provided in parentheses where given in mission statements: 9: 56: 40 p. m. EST (0256: 40 UTC); 2: 44 a. m. EST (0744 UTC); and 6: 09 p. m. PST (9: 09 p. m. EST, 0209 UTC).
