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SpaceX F9 - GPS III SV03 - SLC-40

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Grendal

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Jan 31, 2012
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Launch Date: June 30
Launch Window: 3:55-4:10 p.m. EDT (1955-2010 GMT)
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Booster Recovery: ASDS
Booster: B1060
Mass: 3,880 kg (8,553 lb)
Orbit: Semi-synchronous MEO

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the U.S. Air Force’s third third-generation navigation satellite for the Global Positioning System. The satellite is built by Lockheed Martin. The Air Force previously planned to launch the second GPS 3-series satellite on this mission.
 
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Air Force was nice enough to post amazing pics of the booster (more pics inside): Imgur

I want that office...
4890AA3F-E3FD-4AF9-AE23-0A7F0314FAC3.jpeg
 
Now we have a semi-official date and time.

SpaceX needs to get this one up so they can hopefully recover the booster. They need it to keep the Starlink launches moving along quickly. Adding B1060 into the availability mix gives SpaceX 5 main boosters to launch from:

B1049
B1051
B1058
B1059
B1060

The quickest turnaround time for a Block 5 booster has been two months.
 
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Am I confused? I think I see 3 F9 launches on the schedule IN JUNE.

Starlink 8 in a few days (12th)
Starlink 9 10 days later (22nd)
And this one 8 days later (30th)

I wonder if Boeing has ever done 3 launches in a month, ever. Heck - I wonder what other entity has launched something into spaced 3 times in a month, ever.


So what - Starlink 10 by July 10?
 
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I wonder what other entity has launched something into spaced 3 times in a month, ever.

To be fair, that's a bit like asking "I wonder what diesel F250 has ever been electric"...

I know I've beating this horse for years now, but its all about demand for a rocket company and explicitly not supply. Nobody's launched 3 of the same payload rockets in a month, because they're not structured to do so, because they don't need to be. SpaceX's internal demand has creates a modified paradigm there, and certianly their pricing has created a secondary effect of making [other] mega-constellations slightly more plausible, but the future of the mega constellation is still a little bit fuzzy.
 
Starlink 7 launched June 4th. If the three launches adiggs listed in the above post all launch in June that will give Spacex 4 in June.

It is four launches in June if they don't get delayed somewhere. If they do that the May 30th launch of Bob and Doug made it two days away from five launches in June! Which is also their entire available fleet of boosters. There are two others in final testing for approval but they aren't officially sanctioned boosters quite yet. Those two are already assigned to Crew 1 and GPS III SV04.
 
It is four launches in June if they don't get delayed somewhere. If they do that the May 30th launch of Bob and Doug made it two days away from five launches in June! Which is also their entire available fleet of boosters. There are two others in final testing for approval but they aren't officially sanctioned boosters quite yet. Those two are already assigned to Crew 1 and GPS III SV04.
Man that would be epic. All 5 boosters in inventory flown in a month to 5 weeks!
 
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