SpaceX F9 - Starlink Group 6-23 - SLC-40

Launch Date: October 17
Launch Window: 4:49 pm EDT (1:49 AM PDT, 20:49 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), Florida
Core Booster Recovery: ASDS - JRTI
Booster: B1062.16
Fairings: Reused
Mass: 22 Starlink 2.0 mini Satellites
Orbit: LEO
Yearly Launch Number: 74

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the 113th group of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, a mission designated Starlink 6-23. The Starlink Group 6-23 mission is a V2 mini launch to their second generation constellation.

The Starlink Group 6-23 mission is headed to the 43º inclination shell of Starlink's second generation constellation. Satellites in this shell will be orbiting Earth in a 530km circular orbit at 43º inclination. This mission will carry 22 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a 344x353km 43° orbit and from there they'll raise their orbits to operational altitude.

 

[Grendal]

 

[Grendal]

 

[Grendal]

And another success.... Deployment should have happened but confirmation hasn't happened quite yet.

 

[JB47394]

And another success.... Deployment should have happened but confirmation hasn't happened quite yet.

Eventually they just won't let anyone know that they launched.

 

[scaesare]

Eventually they just won't let anyone know that they launched.

I honestly check in to these threads primarily because I appreciate teh work @Grendal does in providing all the info, and occasionally the discussion veers into some technical detail about the launch or sat revisions... the novelty of a Starlink launch on F9 is long past...

 

[ecarfan]

Nice tracking shot views of the vehicle before stage sep. I’m not used to seeing what looks like a secondary plume distinct from the main plume.

 

[JB47394]

I'd never noticed that either. I think this is a case of the camera operators getting better and better at picking exposure levels. Normally it's pretty washed out, much like the earlier portions of the video.

While I was looking around, I ran across an incredible tracking shot of an earlier Falcon 9 performing staging.

 

[ecarfan]

While I was looking around, I ran across an incredible tracking shot of an earlier Falcon 9 performing staging.

Wow! I’ve never seen anything like that. Too bad the camera let the booster drift out of the frame, would have been better to have followed it all the way down.

Video caption:

A SpaceX tracking camera captured amazing footage of first stage and fairing separation from the Falcon 9 launch of the COSMO-SkyMed Earth-observation satellite on Jan. 31, 2022.