SpaceX launches 350th mission with a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket booster during the Starlink mission from California – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX goals reached another milestone in spaceflight reusability on Wednesday evening, as the company not only launched a flight-tested Falcon 9 launch vehicle for the 350th time in the program’s history, but also completed its 300th successful launch vehicle landing.

The Starlink 9-14 mission launched at 7:05 p.m. PST (10:05 p.m. EST, 0305 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base. However, when announcing the mission on its website, SpaceX only said in general terms: “The four-hour launch window opens at 4:06 p.m. PT.”

For the third time in as many launches from California, SpaceX left the public in the dark as to whether or not the launch would be livestreamed. When the company posted details of the launch on its website Wednesday afternoon, it did not include a link to a webcast or mention the mission on social media.

In contrast, SpaceX simultaneously released a landing page for the planned launch of SiriusXM’s SXM-9 satellite, which will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket late Thursday morning. SpaceX not only included a link to the livestream of the SXM-9 mission, but also announced the launch on its X account. The Starlink 6-70 mission, which launched from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, also had its launch announced in advance via webcast.

SpaceX finally live-streamed the two previous ascents from Vanenberg Space Force Base, NROL-126 and Starlink 9-13. In both cases, however, a livestream appeared long after the rockets left the launch pad.

This was ultimately the case with the Starlink 9-14 mission. SpaceX started its livestream about 44 seconds after the rocket left the launch pad. No explanation was given as to why SpaceX started its broadcast mid-stream for the third time.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster for the Starlink 9-14 mission, tail number B1081, was launched for the twelfth time. Previously, it supported the launch of two missions to the International Space Station (Crew-7 and CRS-29), two climate monitoring spacecraft (PACE and EarthCARE), and five previous Starlink missions.

Just over eight minutes after launch, B1081 completed the 300th successful landing of a drone ship when it landed on the SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You positioned in the Pacific Ocean. This was the 379th booster landing overall for SpaceX.

There are 20 Starlink V2 mini satellites on board the mission, including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities. With this mission, SpaceX will have launched 349 DTC Starlink satellites since the first such launch on January 2nd.

In late November, SpaceX received approval from the US Federal Communications Commission to begin rolling out cellular services alongside its domestic telecommunications partner T-Mobile.

Thank you @NASA , @NTIAgov , @NSF for their coordination work with us and especially with all our telecommunications partners @TMobile !

We hope to activate the employee beta service in the US soon.

— Ben Longmier (@longmier) November 26, 2024

The FCC allowed SpaceX to use its previously approved up to 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites at the 340 km to 360 km V-band frequency.

“SpaceX is authorized to communicate with these satellites in the previously approved Ku, Ka, E and V-band frequencies, in accordance with the technical specifications SpaceX submitted to the Commission, the conditions previously imposed on its authorizations and “the terms we are adopting today,” the FCC wrote in a Nov. 26 filing.

“The approval to allow SpaceX to operate up to 7,500 Gen2 satellites at lower altitudes will allow SpaceX to begin providing lower latency satellite services to meet growing demand in rural and remote areas where There are no options for terrestrial wireless services.16 This partial grant also addresses the right balance between enabling the provision of low latency satellite services for SpaceX’s operations at lower altitudes and the “The possibility for the Commission to continue to monitor SpaceX’s constellation and assess issues previously raised in the file.”