KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — The Saturday launch for SpaceX's Starlink and SpaceMobile's BlueWalker satellites was successful after a short weather-related delay.
What You Need To Know
- SpaceX launched Starlink and the BlueWalker 3 satellites
- Scroll down to watch the launch live
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/TM8bDycT2U
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 11, 2022
The company’s Falcon 9 sent 34 Starlink satellites and AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
The 45th Weather Squadron gave a 60% chance of good launch weather for Saturday night’s mission.
The first-stage booster, named B1058, has been used for several Starlink and two Transporter launches, but also for the famed SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission that sent NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station in 2020.
During the stage separation for Saturday night’s launch, the first stage landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas that was out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship – completing SpaceX’s first 14th flight of a first stage booster pic.twitter.com/F6Stba4bU3
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 11, 2022
About the mission
The Starlink satellites provide internet access to most parts of the planet, stated the company that is operated by SpaceX.
Before Saturday’s launch, astronomer Jonathan McDowell of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics recorded the following: 2,991 Starlink satellites are in orbit, with 2,956 working and 2,470 that are operational.
Made in TX — size matters! #BlueWalker3's 693 sq ft array would be largest-ever commercial comms array in LEO. We're building the first & only cellular broadband network in space backed by 2,400 patent and patent-pending claims. Removing before-flight tags today!!! 🦾🤠🇺🇸 #5G🌐📶 pic.twitter.com/Vx4oNVNYCK
— Abel Avellan (@AbelAvellan) August 31, 2022
Also part of the flight is AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3, a test satellite designed to provide a broadband network that is accessible directly to standard cell phones.
The Texas-based company’s chief strategy officer Scott Wisniewski described the purpose of BlueWalker 3 in a press release.
“We want our efforts to significantly increase the availability of cellular broadband globally by providing a space-based network to existing, unmodified mobile phones. The delivery of BlueWalker 3 to Cape Canaveral represents another milestone in our efforts to reach this goal,” he stated.