Equipped with four solid-fuel strap-on boosters for additional takeoff power, the 198-foot-tall Vulcan’s two methane-fueled BE-4 engines thundered to life at 8:56p.m. EDT, instantly propelling the rocket away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The Starlink 17-4 mission will add another 24 satellites to the growing megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. SpaceX has further delayed this launch to Wednesday, August 13, local time.
The mission, dubbed USSF-106, will be the first Vulcan rocket launch since the vehicle was certified by the United States Space Force in late March. Liftoff from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is schedule for 7:59 p.m. EDT (2359 UTC).
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida happened Monday at 8:35 a.m. EDT (1235 UTC), after four earlier attempts were scrubbed.
Two NASA astronauts, a Japanese flier and a Russian cosmonaut plunged back to Earth Saturday, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego to wrap up a five-month mission.
Lovell served as the pilot of the Command Module for Apollo 8 and the commander of the Apollo 13 mission. NASA said he died Thursday, Aug. 7, in Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
United Launch Alliance will launch the USSF-106 mission as its first flight for the U.S. Space Force using a Vulcan rocket. The vehicle will carry two satellite missions onboard.
The mission, dubbed KF-02, is the fourth flight to date of Project Kuiper satellites. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 8:57 a.m. EDT (1257 UTC) on Sunday, Aug. 10.
The Starlink 10-30 mission will add 28 more satellites to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 3:57 a.m. EDT (0757 UTC) on Monday.
The Crew Dragon mission was delayed a day due to cumulus clouds, but had enough clearance to allow for a launch on August 1. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at 11:43 a.m. EDT (1543 UTC).
The four members of the SpaceX Crew-11 flight were previously set to fly on different missions before they ended up as a quartet on the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for no earlier than Friday, Aug. 1, at 11:43 a.m. EDT (1543 UTC).
The Starlink 10-29 mission added another 28 satellites into the low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 11:37 p.m. EDT (0337 UTC).