![]() This mission is launching 21 Starlink v2 satellites into the 43-degree inclination shell of Starlink Gen 2. Soon after satellite deployment, the second stage performs a deorbit burn for disposal over the western Indian Ocean. Here they’ll be checked out and if they’re operating nominally, they will then raise their orbits to operational altitudes which should happen in a few weeks or months. After another coast phase, the satellites were released into a 365 by 373-kilometer orbit at 43 degrees inclination. Once in orbit, the second stage coasted for about 46 minutes to apogee and then performed a second MVac burn to circularize the orbit. B1076.3 planned landing with estimated fairing recovery ~637km downrange. LHA map for #Starlink Group 6-1 from CCSFS SLC-40 NET 23 Feb 18:37 UTC, altern. The fairing halves fall to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean to be recovered by SpaceX’s multi-purpose recovery vessel Doug. The fairing halves separated approximately 10 seconds into MVac’s first burn. The booster then performed its usual entry and landing burns for a landing on SpaceX’s Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship A Shortfall Of Gravitas which was located approximately 636 km downrange.Īfter stage separation, the second stage fired its single Merlin 1D Vacuum (MVac) engine for about six minutes to inject the satellites into a parking orbit. It fired its engines for about two and a half minutes and then separated from the second stage. The first stage for this mission, B1076, was flying for a third time, having previously supported the CRS-26 and OneWeb-16 missions. The flight profile of Falcon 9 on Monday was similar to the one seen on Group 5 missions with the rocket arching to the southeast on its path to orbit. ![]() LOX load on the first and second stages ends at around the T-3 minute and T-2 minute mark respectively, and the rocket takes control of the countdown at the T-1 minute mark.Įngine ignition is commanded at T-3 seconds and if engine checks look correct, the ground clamps release the rocket for liftoff at the expected T0 time. RP-1 load on the booster then wraps up about a minute later. LOX load on the second stage begins about four minutes after that at T-16 minutes.Įngine chill commences at the T-7 minute mark with a small flow of LOX going into the turbopumps on all nine Merlin engines on the first stage. ![]() Loading of RP-1 on the second stage wraps up at the T-20 minute mark followed by the usual “T-20 minute vent” as purging begins on the lines of the Falcon 9 Transporter/Erector (T/E) that supplies fluids and power to the vehicle. The Falcon 9 countdown was the traditional 35-minute long propellant load sequence which begins with RP-1 (a refined form of kerosene) load on both stages and liquid oxygen (LOX) load on the first stage. Launch from SLC-4E at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California occurred at 10:38 AM PST (18:38 UTC). However, these have been carried out by launching Starlink v1.5 satellites instead of the upgraded Starlink v2 satellites making the debut on this mission.Īnother batch of v1.5 satellites then lifted off on Friday as part of the Group 2-7 mission. SpaceX started launches in support of Starlink’s second generation constellation, Starlink Gen 2, back in December 2022 with the Group 5 missions. The Starlink Group 6-1 mission was the first to carry Starlink’s next-generation satellite version, Starlink v2. The first was the launch of the Starlink Group 6-1 mission at 6:13 PM EST (23:13 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. On Monday, SpaceX conducted the first of two Starlink launches this week from each coast of the United States.
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