SpaceX Aims For Trio Of Launches As Starlink Satellites Soar Into Orbit

TL;DR

SpaceX targets a 6 a.m. PT liftoff on Tuesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base for a Falcon 9 rocket. This mission carries 25 Starlink satellites and may kick off a three-launch week for the California coast.

I am looking at the coast of Santa Barbara County. A Falcon 9 stands on the pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The machine measures 230 feet from the engines to the tip. Tomorrow brings the first of three scheduled flights this week. It starts at dawn. The window opens at 6 a.m. Pacific Time. I noticed the weather looks promising for the climb into the atmosphere.

And the cargo is heavy. USA TODAY provided details on the payload consisting of 25 Starlink satellites. These machines provide internet from the sky. They need to reach low-Earth orbit to function. Gravity is the only obstacle. But the Merlin engines produce over a million pounds of thrust. The ground shakes. The sound travels for miles across the Pacific.

I checked the flight path on the map. The rocket heads south over the water. Residents in Lompoc will hear the boom first. People in Santa Barbara might see the streak of light if the marine layer stays away. SpaceX aims for a four-hour window on Tuesday. If the sensors detect a glitch they wait. A backup opportunity exists for Wednesday. Logic dictates caution with a 230-foot tower of propellant.

Engineers at the control center watch the telemetry data on their screens. I think the efficiency of these turnaround times is the real story. Three launches in seven days is a high bar. The hardware returns to Earth on a drone ship. It lands in the ocean. This creates a cycle of flight. Success is the baseline here. We watch the clock now.

Find other details related to this topic usatoday.com