The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 29 Starlink at 2:53 a.m. Nov. 22 from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Statio. This was SpaceX’s last flight until Monday. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
SpaceX plans to resume Falcon 9 missions from Florida with flights with 29 Starlink satellites each scheduled for Monday and Tuesday after a 10-day pause during the Thanksgiving holiday week.
The last launch was Nov. 22 when a Falcon 9 rocket carried 29 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit from Canaveral Space Force Station’s Pad 40 at 2:53 a.m. EST. It was the record 101st mission from Florida’s Space Coast this year.
SpaceX is planning a launch this Friday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Launch time is 10:44 a.m. PST with a Falcon 9 to launch dozens of CubeSats and other small spacecraft as part of its smallsat rideshare program called Transporter. It will include Mexico’s Alvaro Obregón borough’s first locally assembled microsatellite into orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-15
From Florida, the four-hour window for the next flight is from midnight to 4 a.m. from Pad 39A at Kennedy’s Space Center.
Then Tuesday from 3:16 to 7:16 p.m., a Falcon 9 is scheduled from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Another Starlink missions are scheduled the following week: Dec. 7.
On Dec. 9, SpaceX also is planning the third national security launch this year for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command and the National Reconnaissance Office.
There have been 67 Starlink missions this year from Florida, carrying 1,724 satellites. In all there have been 150 Falcon 9 launches this year, including from California.
From Florida’s Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center there were a record 93 this year, after 74 missions in 2023. Aside from SpaceX, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance also launch missions from Florida’s space coast.
Mission to the International Space Station
SpaceX also sends astronauts to the International Space Center for NASA aboard Dragon. The last mission was Crew-11 on Aug 1 and docking the next day.
On Thursday, Russia launched two cosmonauts, Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, and American astronaut Christopher Williams from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It lifted off at 4:27 a.m. local time.
One day later, the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft successfully docked with the space station, Roscosmos said. Their mission is scheduled to last eight months.
A launch inspection discovered “damage to several elements of the launch pad,” according to a statement from Roscosmos.
“An assessment of the condition of the launch complex is currently underway.
The launch pad includes support systems for the rocket and a structure for occupants to access their capsule atop a Soyuz rocket.
“In the worst case this could seriously affect the rotation of crewed missions and cargo flights to the ISS,” analyst and blogger Georgy Trishkin wrote on Telegram.
With the docking, there is a 10-member crew. Three are scheduled to return to Earth by Dec. 8, according to NASA.
The week in photos: NYE ball, Thanksgiving parade
The new Times Square New Year’s Eve Waterford Crystal ball is unveiled and lit up for a press preview at One Times Square in New York City on Monday. The new NYE Ball was created in collaboration with long-term partner, Waterford. Created with 5,280 Waterford crystals, nearly twice the amount of its predecessor, and features circular crystals for the first time, replacing the triangular panels of the past. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
