![]() The returning booster returned to the launch base with a pair of sonic booms as it slowed for landing. Landing of the first stage on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral occurred about eight minutes into the mission. The booster stage separated from the Falcon 9’s upper stage, then fired pulses from cold gas control thrusters and extended titanium grid fins to help steer the vehicle back into the atmosphere. The lighter weight of the 40 OneWeb satellites - each about the size of a mini-refrigerator - allowed the Falcon 9 booster to set aside enough fuel to return to the launch site, which requires an additional engine burn compared to rocket landings on SpaceX’s ocean-going drone ships. The launcher surpassed the speed of sound in about one minute, then shut down its nine main engines nearly two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. Then the launcher turned south to fly parallel to Florida’s east coast, aiming for a polar orbit at an inclination of 87 degrees. In the final seven minutes before liftoff, the Falcon 9’s Merlin main engines were thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as “chilldown.” The Falcon 9’s guidance and range safety systems were also configured for launch.Īfter liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket soared into a clear sky over the Sunshine State, vectoring 1.7 million pounds of thrust from its main engines to steer downrange toward the southeast over the Atlantic Ocean. Helium pressurant also flowed into the rocket in the last half-hour of the countdown. The SpaceX launch team working in a control center just outside the gate of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station began loading super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Falcon 9 vehicle at T-minus 35 minutes. Liftoff of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with 40 more OneWeb internet satellites. SpaceX’s 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket took off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:13:28 p.m. ![]() Each launch is a group effort, and today’s success would not have been possible without the dedication of the entire launch team and our partners here in Florida.” “Now more than ever, OneWeb is dedicated to continuing the momentum we have garnered from the past 17 successful launches, to innovate alongside our trusted partners and deliver connectivity solutions at scale. “Today’s launch is an exciting milestone as we are now just one mission away from completing our Gen 1 constellation, which will activate global service in 2023,” said Neil Masterson, CEO of OneWeb, in a statement. OneWeb plans to launch nearly 650 satellites in total for its first-generation network, including spares. That launch, scheduled for March 26, will put OneWeb over the 588-satellite threshold needed for global internet coverage. ![]() ![]() OneWeb also has one more launch on an Indian GSLV Mk.3 rocket scheduled later this month with 36 more internet satellites. OneWeb has reported two failed satellites in its constellation, meaning the launch Thursday brought the tally of active OneWeb spacecraft to 582. With the 40 spacecraft on Thursday’s mission, OneWeb has launched 584 satellites to date on 17 rockets - 13 Soyuz flights, three SpaceX Falcon 9s, and one Indian GSLV Mk.3. OneWeb has another reservation with SpaceX for a rideshare mission with Iridium later this year. The mission, SpaceX’s 16th flight of the year overall, was the third and final planned dedicated Falcon 9 launch for OneWeb, which switched launch providers from Russia’s Soyuz rocket to SpaceX and Indian rockets last year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Thursday with 40 more internet satellites for rival OneWeb, followed eight minutes later by the landing of the rocket’s first stage booster back at the Florida spaceport. ![]()
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