SpaceX marks New Year with launch of multi-satellite ‘rideshare’ mission

Picking up where it left off in 2022, SpaceX launched the first Falcon 9 of the new year on Tuesday, launching 114 small satellites and other payloads to orbit on the company’s sixth “rideshare” mission. I was. payload.

Falcon 9 took off from Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral at 9:56 a.m. ET, just four days after being launched by SpaceX, using the first stage to achieve its 15th flight, the most ever. The 61st and final mission in 2022. More flights are planned for this year.

The first stage pushed the rocket out of the dense lower atmosphere and ascended south into a polar orbit tilted 97.5 degrees to the equator. It then dropped and returned to land on the Space Force station’s SpaceX pad.

Spectacular ‘rocket cam’ video gave space x Webcast viewers will get crisp shots of Cape Canaveral, the Kennedy Space Center and Florida’s Space Coast as they descend into Landing Zone 1 to end their final flight, and a bird’s eye view back to landing at the launch site. Offer your audience.

Meanwhile, the second stage was launched twice in 53 minutes and reached its intended orbit at a height of 325 miles. A few minutes later, satellite deployment began, starting with KuwaitSat-1.

The mixed cargo includes six “SpaceTugs” carrying payloads to be deployed later, and 36 planet-owned “Superdub” CubeSats to replenish the company’s 200-satellite commercial Earth observation constellation. It included a number of small satellites, including

Launched Tuesday as part of Flock 4Y, the 10 SuperDoves include “artwork and quotes celebrating the legacy of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, as part of a collaboration with The Roddenberry Foundation’s Boldly Go Campaign.” is included.

“The side panels of five of the SuperDoves participating in this mission were inspired by over 1,500 submissions to the Boldly Go campaign, which asked the world to share what gives them hope for the future of humanity. The artwork will be laser etched.”

What’s next for SpaceX: Launching 40 OneWeb Internet satellites from the same launch pad on Sunday, followed by the company’s fifth triple-core Falcon Heavy booster from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on a classified U.S. Space Force mission increase. That flight is believed to be targeted for a January 12th launch.

William Harwood

Bill Harwood has worked full-time on the US space program since 1984, first as United Press International’s Cape Canaveral Bureau Chief and now as a consultant for CBS News. He covered his 129 space shuttle missions, all interplanetary flights since Voyager 2’s Neptune flyby, and numerous commercial and military launches. Based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood is a dedicated amateur astronomer and co-author of “Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia.”