SpaceX continues fast launch pace with ‘rideshare’ mission

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Picking up where it left off in 2022, SpaceX launched the first Falcon 9 of the new year on Tuesday, placing 114 small satellites and other payloads into orbit in the company’s sixth “road-sharing” mission designed to provide low-cost access to space for smaller companies. loads.

Making a record-breaking 15th flight using the first stage, Falcon 9 launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:56 am, just four days after SpaceX launched its orbit. The 61st and final mission of 2022. More flights are expected this year.

SpaceX kicked off the new year with the launch of 114 small satellites and other payloads on a Falcon 9 rocket in the company's sixth year.

SpaceX kicked off the new year with the launch of 114 small satellites and other payloads on a Falcon 9 rocket in the company’s sixth year.

The first stage pushed the rocket out of the dense lower atmosphere and climbed south into a polar orbit inclined 97.5 degrees to the equator. It then crashed and flew back to land on a SpaceX pad on the Space Force station.

The spectacular “rocket camera” video gave viewers a bird’s-eye view of the landing site landing, capturing clear images of Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center, and Florida’s Space Coast as it descended to Landing Zone 1 to close its final flight to SpaceX webcast.

Great shots from A

Great shots from A

The second stage, meanwhile, was fired twice in a 53-minute period to reach the planned 325-mile-high orbit. Minutes later, satellite deployments began, beginning with KuwaitSat-1.

The mixed cargo included half a dozen “space tugs” carrying payloads to be deployed later, and a number of smaller satellites, including 36 “SuperDove” cube satellites owned by Planet to replenish the company’s 200-satellite commercial Earth observation constellation.

Transporter 6 payloads were launched one at a time from a dispenser above Falcon 9's second stage. This image, showing a payload taking off from the bottom right, neared the end of its deployment sequence as the rocket passed over northern Canada. / credit: SpaceX webcast

Transporter 6 payloads were launched one at a time from a dispenser above Falcon 9’s second stage. This image, showing a payload taking off from the bottom right, neared the end of its deployment sequence as the rocket passed over northern Canada. / credit: SpaceX webcast

The ten SuperDoves launched as part of “flock 4Y” on Tuesday carry “artwork and quotes that celebrate the legacy of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry as part of our collaboration with The Roddenberry Foundation’s Boldly Go Campaign,” the company said in a statement.

“The laser-etched artworks on the side panels of five of the SuperDoves in this mission will be inspired by more than 1,500 submissions to the Boldly Go campaign, which asks the world to share what gives them hope for the future of humanity.”

Next up for SpaceX: The launch of 40 OneWeb internet satellites from the same launch pad on Sunday, followed by the launch of the company’s fifth triple-core Falcon Heavy booster from the 39A launcher at Kennedy Space Center on a classified US Space Force mission. This flight is believed to be targeted for launch on January 12.

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