SpaceX F9 - Starlink Group 4-21 - SLC-40

[Grendal]

Launch Date: July 7
Launch Window: 9:00am EDT (6:00am PDT, 13:00 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), Florida
Core Booster Recovery: ASDS - JRTI
Booster: B1058.13
Fairings: Reused
Mass: 53 satellites - 15.6 tonnes
Orbit: LEO
Yearly Launch Number: 28th

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the 49th group of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, a mission designated Starlink 4-21. The second time a Falcon 9 first stage booster will fly for the thirteenth time.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Second life leader.

 

[Grendal]

Delayed.

 

[Grendal]

Updated with current launch information.

 

[Grendal]

 

[808?]

 

[ecarfan]

Well that was a nail biter. It took over a minute for SpaceX to confirm the booster landing. Video from the booster and ASOG cut out several seconds before touchdown and did not come back. And the livestream ended before deployment, which seems odd to me; it was only a few minutes away.

 

[MyJoule]

Well that was a nail biter. It took over a minute for SpaceX to confirm the booster landing. Video from the booster and ASOG cut out several seconds before touchdown and did not come back. And the livestream ended before deployment, which seems odd to me; it was only a few minutes away.

Seems like Kate was phoning it in this morning, no background chatter at the factory, no visual of her either. I know she has a day job like all of the other commentators.

I too wonder what happened at the landing, Seems the video never came back after the drone ship's link went down during the vibration of the landing, They did say "landing confirmed" But no images. I guess we'll see soon enough if it was a hard landing or something else.

I also wonder, why they didn't stick with the feed if the deployment was as close as the timeline indicated it would be. Maybe no TM available at that location?

Just saw the tweet, deployment confirmed.. So it was successful

 

[Grendal]

Well that was a nail biter. It took over a minute for SpaceX to confirm the booster landing. Video from the booster and ASOG cut out several seconds before touchdown and did not come back. And the livestream ended before deployment, which seems odd to me; it was only a few minutes away.

An odd one for sure. Kate Tice was the host and never came on. Most of the breakdown of the details were short and abrupt. The landing was cut off with the booster looking slightly off target. Happily we did get confirmation. JRTI is the older ASDS and doesn't have the newest tech on it could explain why the video never came back on. They never showed the payload at all. So I expect there was something added or different that SpaceX didn't want to show.

 

[ecarfan]

Seems like Kate was phoning it in this morning, no background chatter at the factory, no visual of her either.

I had the same impression. She seemed less engaged and animated than usual. I met her once at a Vandenburg launch years ago; really nice, high energy. But of course we all have our ups and downs.

And I cannot recall another SpaceX launch livestream where the webcast host was not shown.

 

[Cosmacelf]

An odd one for sure. Kate Tice was the host and never came on. Most of the breakdown of the details were short and abrupt. The landing was cut off with the booster looking slightly off target. Happily we did get confirmation. JRTI is the older ASDS and doesn't have the newest tech on it could explain why the video never came back on. They never showed the payload at all. So I expect there was something added or different that SpaceX didn't want to show.

We also didn’t see fairing separation. All in all, an odd webcast. Kinda like they just rolled out of bed for the webcast

 

[ecarfan]

JRTI is the older ASDS and doesn't have the newest tech on it could explain why the video never came back on.

Thanks for reminding me, I made an incorrect assumption for the ASDS.

They never showed the payload at all. So I expect there was something added or different that SpaceX didn't want to show.

Hmm…interesting speculation.

 

[ecarfan]

We also didn’t see fairing separation.

It was shown. Looked like a normal stack of Starlinks.

And just before separation.

 

[HVM]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1545038647132450816

 

[Cosmacelf]

Seems like Kate was phoning it in this morning, no background chatter at the factory, no visual of her either.

So, one theory is she was literally phoning it in, as in she was working from home, and maybe due to a mild illness (cough, covid, cough).

 

[HVM]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1546694028183339008

 

[MyJoule]

So glad to see it in one piece after the mystery surrounding the lack of video evidence of a good landing. Been watching for it on the Port Canaveral camera for the last couple of days.