RECENT LAUNCH

Starlink Mission

WATCH

On Tuesday, November 24 at 9:13 p.m. EST, SpaceX launched its sixteenth Starlink mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster that supported this mission previously flew on six other missions: the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission in September 2018, the Iridium-8 mission in January 2019, and four Starlink missions in May 2019, January 2020, June 2020, and August 2020. Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which was located in the Atlantic Ocean. One half of Falcon 9’s fairing previously supported a mission, and the other half previously supported two.

You can watch a replay of this mission by clicking the watch button on the image above.

Last month, SpaceX launched its “Better Than Nothing Beta” test program. Service invites were sent to a portion of those who requested availability updates on Starlink.com and who live in serviceable areas. A couple weeks ago, Canada granted Starlink regulatory approval and SpaceX has now rolled out the service to parts of southern Canada.

If you would like to learn more about the service, please visit the Reddit AMA SpaceX engineers recently participated in.

FLIP MANEUVERVERTICAL LANDINGENTRY BURNAERODYNAMIC GUIDANCEAUTONOMOUS DRONE SHIPASCENTFAIRING SEPARATIONLAUNCHPAYLOAD SEPARATION
FLIP MANEUVERENTRY BURNAUTONOMOUS DRONE SHIP LANDINGFAIRING SEPARATIONPAYLOAD SEPARATIONASCENTLAUNCH

Countdown

All Times Are Approximate

Hr/Min/Sec Event
00:38:00 SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load
00:35:00 RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading underway
00:35:00 1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading underway
00:16:00 2nd stage LOX loading underway
00:07:00 Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch
00:01:00 Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
00:01:00 Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins
00:00:45 SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
00:00:03 Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start
00:00:00 Falcon 9 liftoff

Launch, Landing and Payload Deployment

All Times Are Approximate

Hr/Min/Sec Event
00:01:12 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
00:02:32 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
00:02:35 1st and 2nd stages separate
00:02:43 2nd stage engine starts (SES-1)
00:03:10 Fairing deployment
00:07:03 1st stage entry burn complete
00:08:43 1st stage landing
00:08:50 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)
00:14:46 Starlink satellites deploy