Watch live: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket with five BlueBird satellites from Cape Canaveral

for good morning everyone and Welcome to our live coverage of the latest Mission from Cape canaval space force station Emil Robinson Smith will be conducting our commentary for the duration of this coverage we are broadcasting as we always do from the space flight now news Bureau here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center our space flight now editor Stephen young is running the technical operations of the broadcast our Adam Bernstein is out the field preparing to track the Falcon 9 rocket once it takes flight do some still photography as well Michael Kane has the morning off that said you can find the fellows over on their social channels on X Adam Burnstein at aurn NYC Michael Kane at MD Kane Jr you can find space flight now simply at space flight now we're on X as well as Facebook and threads we'll also have support for this morning's launch from our friends P Carston's with Max Q Productions and Chuck and Jen Briggs with C&J images taking a wide look at a dark pad here just a little speck of light in the distance as SpaceX is preparing to launch its Workhorse rocket the Falcon 9 from space launch complex 40 otherwise known as slick 40 we are currently T-minus 56 minutes 39 seconds and counting from the liftoff of this falcon9 rocket on board are a batch of five satellites for the Texas based company called as space mobile these satellites are the first of their series of commercial satellites following the launch of their test satellite called Blue Walker 3 this satellite constellation is designed to help provide cell coverage across the United States or those may be in spots where self service is a little bit harder to reach fairly large satellites these ones are they're about 693 square feet once they're deployed in their on orbit configuration however the satellites will actually be getting a little bit bigger once as space mobile moves into its next block version of these satellites these are considered block one they're a little bit smaller closer to the blue Walker 3 size that's because of some supply chain issues and wanted to get these first satellites on orbit with a little more expediency as they work on their block two versions as we are kicking off our live coverage want to thank the uh little more than 400 of you who are joining with us live I know it's a very wonky hour some of you may have been trying to stay up or getting up early in anticipation of the play Dawn space walk one of the highlights of that mission and SpaceX has adjusted the timing of that we'll talk a little bit more about Blair's Dawn in just a little bit but appreciate you hopping over here with our live launch coverage in the meantime if you haven't already be sure to hit that like button allows more folks to find their way into our live launch coverage want to thank Kalisa Lee one of our wonderful channel members and moderators for helping us out at this odd hour appreciate you being with us helping to keep things kosher in the live chat we're also powered by a wonderful Channel member Community here on YouTube so thanks to folks like clever girl Jeff Hansen I am Lita Ry mom 12 KH and many others for on going support Channel membership morning to you Bubba Ray P chichio Channel membership comes with the number of perks including discounts at our online shop that is shopspace now.com access to member only videos here on YouTube and of course the ability to watch all of our launch liftoff moments from the cape in 4k last but not least if you have a comment or question about this launch or other happenings in the realm of space your comment or question is appropriate to be read on a show you can use the YouTube Super Chat feature I'd love to bring you into the conversation not only will he be giving us some interesting things to talk about as we continue on through the count but also be supporting what we do here at space flight now and that is always greatly appreciated for for for for currently T minus 50 minutes 20 seconds in counting as SpaceX is aiming to launch this Falcon 9 rocket in the next 50 minutes and some change they are once again facing some more proverbial than literal headwinds at the moment as the launch weather forecast is uh less than optimal heading into this launch opportunity there a 4-Hour launch window for SpaceX however the 45th weather Squadron forecast just a 30% chance of favorable weather at liftoff citing concerns with the cumulus cloud rule the thick Cloud layers Rule and the surface electric Fields rule these rules are in place in order to protect the rocket its payload and broader Public Safety rocket passing through notable clouds can cause uh essentially a static electricity effect and the rocket can generate its own lightning which of course would be quite dangerous for all parties involved so meteorologists help to steer launch providers away from such potential risks if SpaceX needs to Pivot to a backup opportunity they do have uh range availability 24 hours from now roughly 24 hours from now with a launch window that would open up on Friday September 13th at 4:49 a.m. Eastern if they do decide to push to that backup opportunity the chance of good weather at this point in the Outlook is about a coin toss which I know doesn't sound great but compared to today would be an improvement from a weather standpoint that's not to say that SpaceX won't be able to thread the needle as it were they've found a way in various circumstances so of course that's why we're live here covering this Mission with you and we'll of course let you know any relevant updates to the weather as we continue to roll on and I welcome into as she's now known Aussie space girl formerly Stephanie B for those who know her by a previous handle to see you this morning for as we are heading towards some of the first milestones in the countdown this morning let's go ahead and take a look at the countdown timeline for the mission today let you know what we are anticipating from SpaceX as it continues on through the count as is standard for non crew related Falcon 9 launches about tus 38 minutes from liftoff the SpaceX launch director will make the call on the start a propellent load this is an electronic pull so if SpaceX feels like they're in a good position to do so they can take this pull uh a little bit early once the go-ahead is given prop load begins with two events simultaneously rocket great kerosene or rp1 is loaded on board the Falcon 99's first in second stages the same time liquid oxygen is loaded on board the Falcon 9's first stage at the 30 minute Mark cenic helium is loaded onto the pressure vessels on the Falcon 's first stage as well healing is important because it's used to pressurize the main propellant tanks during flight same event will occur but on the second stage about 4 minutes later about T minus 23 minutes the second stage kerosene tank is full T minus 20 minutes and 50 seconds is when the strong back chill down process begins we know it of course when it manifests itself in the so-called big vent at about T minus 20 minutes and 20 seconds process where SpaceX is chilling the feed lines prior to Second Stage lock load which begins T minus 16 minutes or thereabouts at the 7 Minute Mark the chill down of the nine Merlin engines gets underway that process involves flowing a small amount of liquid oxygen through the plumbing and turbo pumps and helps protect the engines from the risk of thermal shock and damage during the startup sequence about 6 minutes out the first stage kerosene tank is full and minus 4 and a half minutes the strong back retract sequence begins starts with the clamp arms underneath the payload fairings opening up and then the strong back or the transporter erector will recline about a degree and a half away from the falcon9 rocket and stays in that position until liftoff that point clears back in a much more rapid fashion to create space for the vertical climb of the Falcon 9 about 3 minutes out the first stage liquid oxygen tank is full same is true on the second stage about a minute later that point the Falcon 9 is fully loaded with 1 million pounds of propellant in the final 60 seconds control of the countdown is handed over from the ground sequence or at the falcon on board flight computers and the propell tanks are brought up to flight pressure should hear that call out as Falcon 9 being in startup 45 seconds out the SpaceX launch director will give their go for launch the engine condition command position at T minus 3 seconds and a fall N9 Merlin 1D engines are healthy and ignite the flight computer will give the command for the hold down clams to release the Falcon 9 for a t0 liftoff again targeting the opening of a 4H hour for window this morning which is coming up at 4:52 a.m. eastern that's 0852 UTC for our friends joining around the world in other words tus 42 minutes 12 [Music] seconds for for for for for we are currently T minus 39 minutes 19 seconds in counting just about a minute away from the point at which the SpaceX launch director will need to make the call on the start of propellant load for this Mission Again SpaceX does have multiple launch opportunities within this window as long as prop load has not begun but once they start fueling the rocket they are locking themselves into that launch attempt time for for currently T minus 37 minutes 12 seconds and counting want to bring in an image here of what these satellites look like that are about to launch these are the bluebird 1 through five satellites stacked in their launch configuration for for as we are coming into potentially the start of fueling here SpaceX will be deploying these five satellites over the course of uh several minutes once the deployment period starts that's going to be coming up t+ 53 minutes 57 seconds is when the first of these satellites deploys the deployment sequence lasts until t+ 1 hour 7 minutes and 53 seconds and these are the first of as space Mobile's commercial satellites called bluebirds these are the block one version block two going to be little bit bigger than the ones you see here um once they're in their on orbit configuration they will have communications arrays that extend to 693 Square ft but the block two satellites once they're in an onover configuration will be 2400 Square ft for this point in the countdown we're T minus 33 minutes SpaceX we have needed to have started fueling if they're going to Target the opening of the window here we're looking for near the base of the Falcon 9 rocket if you look just above the tree line you see that slightly lighter band near the bottom of the first stage that's about where we usually start to see a little bit of vapor form as the super cold uh densified liquid oxygen starts flowing on the first stage and it does look like we do have a little bit of vapor forming there which certainly indicates that SpaceX is in the fuing process on its Falcon 9 rocket which means it's going to give the opening of the window the old College try yeah definitely seeing some good signs of fueling at this point so SpaceX now keying into that first launch opportunity again that's coming up T minus or excuse me at uh 4:52 a.m. eastern 0852 UTC and that is in T-minus 30 31 minutes 27 seconds counting of course as SpaceX is preparing to launch this Mission it is also getting ready to step into flight day three for the Polaris Dawn mission after busy flight day two uh bit of History set with the player St Mission so far and more to come during flight day two they increased their Apache of the Dragon spacecraft to more than 1400 kilm it's the furthest humans have traveled since the end of the Apollo program back in 1972 also noteworthy that two of spacex's employees an a Menan Sarah Gillis entered into the history books as the two women who have traveled furthest from Earth so far in history and of course today they are very much preparing to step into another bit history with the first commercial space walker Eva that's coming up in the next uh a little bit more than an hour from now that Eva set to begin at 558 a.m. eastern 0958 UTC with live coverage beginning just about an hour prior to that we'll start to see the preparations for that what's basic and the players program have been doing to get ready for that and of course we'll also be having our own live coverage talking about how we got to this point in the mission and what's coming down the pike for all of the players crew mission Commander Jared isaacman and Mission specialist Sarah gills will be the ones who will physically exit the vehicle one at a time but the whole vehicle will be brought down to vacuum since there's no air loock within the Dragon capsule weather currently remains green for launch with this Mission today back here on the ground with the as Mobile's Bluebird 1 through five for for for currently T-minus 26 minutes 50 seconds in counting this point the cenum has started loading on board both the Falcon 's first and second stage pressure vessels want to briefly talk about where this Falcon 9 is going to be launching to and Landing once it leaves the pad let's talk a little trajectory shall we Falcon 9 of course lifting off from space launch complex 40 or slick 40 the Workhorse launch pad for SpaceX here in keep Canaveral once it departs it'll be heading in a northeasterly trajectory with as you can see from the red line first stage booster b178 the SpaceX Fleet going to be making an rtls or return to Landing site Landing over at LZ One landing Zone one payload fairings encapsulating the five blue bird satellites will also be recovered on a SpaceX recovery vessel SpaceX saves about $6 million per recovery effort and they're working on getting their fairing halves and boosters certified for up to 40 flights so it's important that they work to recover as much of the vehicle as possible with this and other future missions As We are continuing the count want to listening to some commentary from the uh CEO of as mobile let's go and listen to that as there the honor to having you all waking up this early to see this together with us my Engineers are around we're going to leave after we lose sight of the satellites and hopefully you will stay and see the remaining of the mission again thank you so much thank you thank you so much thank you we're just catching the tail end of the comments from the CEO of as mobile space mobile excuse me we'll be monitoring their uh live fee to see if any other dignitaries from the company are going to be speaking in between now and then or if there's some good uh b-roll to share with you of the satellites that are going to be launching in the next 23 minutes speaking of that at this point the second stage kerosene tank should be full just about now coming up on the so-called big vent as well in the next couple of minutes as they begin the chill down of the feed lines before second stage liquid oxygen load those with a space mobile are watching this launch And discussing the mission over at the Saturn 5 center part of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex the views we saw just a moment or two ago for the chill down sequence will started now and we're just waiting on the start of the so-called big vent to beginning in the next 10 seconds and there it goes good visual indication that fueling is in fact moving along on time and on schedule for for for for for for now T minus 16 minutes 44 seconds and counting we're just coming upon the end of this big vent here as you can see it's starting to Peter off it'll set up second stage liquid oxygen load coming up in the next 30 seconds as we continue to step on through the count certainly want to thank the more than 1,700 of you who are either have stayed up late with us or are getting up early whatever the case may be appreciate you being here with us if you haven't already be sure to hit that like button allow some more folks to find their way into our live coverage very much appreciate it for for on the team minus 14 minutes in counting the Falcon 9 first stage booster that's flying today's Mission tail number 1078 in the SpaceX Fleet is going for its 13th flight today so before it takes off for that mission let's go ahead and take a step back in time and talk about how we got here some of its previous flights began launching in March of 2023 with the crew 6 mission heading up to the International Space Station with a crude Dragon spacecraft that was followed by the launch of a pair of satellites for sces the 03b M Power 3 and4 mission on April 28th 2023 headed over into starlink land for a little while with the launches of starlink 6-4 on June 4th 6-8 on August 7th 6-16 on September 16th 6 sash 31 on December 3rd then we move on to the ussf 124 mission that launched on Valentine's Day of this year and then we're back to starlink territory starlink 6- 46 on March 25th Starling 6- 53 on April 23rd Starling 6-60 on May 28th starlink 10-2 on June 23rd and starlink think 10-6 on August 2nd that of course brings us into today with this ending launch of the bluebird 1-5 Mission with these block one satellites now getting some live pad views from SpaceX here as the countdown continues on little bit of housekeeping here want to note that the SpaceX feed you can see a little bit of a difference in time between what's in our countdown clock and what's in the SpaceX feed differen is our countdown clock is in real time what's coming through from SpaceX is on a slight delay so we'll be making calls based off of our cameras as you can see from basic again this is a launch for as space mobile and there are five Bluebird satellites on board what you're seeing here is a a promo video from as space mobile giving you a visual representation of how it intends for its satellites to to help provide connectivity for cell users in really any part of the country using these Bluebird satellites The Benefit that this particular company is boasting is that its service will be compatible with any cell phone in an unmodified sense there's a rendering of what those satellites look like when they're in their on orbit configuration and a smash cut of the manufacturing process for for now T minus 8 minutes 20 seconds in counting you're seeing some graphical representation of the a space mobbles satellites here we are just about a minute away from the chill down of the nine Merlin 1D engines from beginning that involves flowing a small amount of liquid oxygen through the plumbing and turbo pumps helps protect the engines from the risk of thermal shock and damage during the startup sequence for now T-minus 6 minutes 33 seconds in counting about 2 minutes away from the strong back retract sequence here so far all moving Nally with the fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket for for do a a call out that the Falcon 9 is preparing for that strong back retrack also want to let you know a bit of uh housekeeping as well as we're coming up on 450 here on the east coast of course this is uh nearing the beginning of our coverage as well for the player stun bace walk so we will be having a dedicated stream on that mission as well so it's going to be a little bit of a a juggle here see the clamp arms underneath the payload fairing starting to open up the strong back will be reclining about a degree and a half away from the Falcon 9 rocket momentarily essentially what's going to happen is we are going to toggle back and forth between the events of both the as space mobile Bluebird 1-5 Mission as well as bringing you updates on The Space Walk and eventually we will be pivoting towards the spacewalk since that event obviously will last significantly longer than the duration of the deployment for the bluebird 1-5 mission of course this is a bit complicated on the back end so please bear with us if we should run into any technical issues but we're working uh behind the scenes to help make it as smooth of a transition as possible and bring you robust live coverage on both the Falcon 9 flight which is now Less Than 3 minutes away as well as the upcoming spacewalk said to make history as the first Eva without a government involved we're now T minus 2 minutes 33 seconds and counting from the liftoff of this Falcon 9 rocket Falcon 99's first stage is now fully loaded with 1 million oh with uh liquid oxygen they should be done with fueling the second stage in just a few seconds from now did hear the call for stage two lock so complete this point the Falcon 9 is fully loaded with 1 million pounds of propellant you're seeing the ground gas close outs here as we're just about at a minute and a half away from play lift off of this Falcon 9 rocket want to welcome in a couple of new channel members here Tri pin 3 welcome the mission specialist level and United Spa United Nations space command marking 13 months with us good timing is this falcon9 first stage booster is preparing to make its 13th launch in just over a minute and I Thanks to Neo Janine and 2024 for a dollar Super Chat appreciate all of you Falcon 9 is in startup now we are waiting the call for the SpaceX launch directors go for launch got that go for launch call we are now 30 seconds away from liftoff 20 seconds 15 seconds and here we go in 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 and just ignition and liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket on the bluebird 1-5 mission for as space mobile Falcon 9 has cleared the tower and is soaring above the Skies over Florida Space Coast [Music] now minut into flight on this Mission passing through Max Q the point of pressure on the vehicle we're coming up on a few different events in Fairly rapid succession about five of them here because this is a return to Landing site Mission as well those here in Central Florida may hear us boom as the Falcon 9's first stage makes its way back towards lz1 or Landing Zone one t plus 2 minutes 18 seconds will be first stage main engine cut off for Mo that'll be followed seconds later by stage separation the first stage booster will perform a flip maneuver the second stage engine will ignite at t plus 2 minutes 29 seconds the Boost back burn will begin a few seconds after that the fairing halves will separate from the second stage to plus 3 minutes 11 seconds boost back burn will conclude at three and a half minutes coming up on Mo in about 5 [Music] seconds and we have [Music] Mo stage separation [Music] ignition of that Merlin starting that flip maneuver and the Boost back burn is [Music] underway got a great view of that from our Chuck and chck Bri Chuck and Chen bricks excuse me little bit of a jellyfish effect which is great to see a little nebula [Music] this boost back burn will last just a little bit under a minute you can see just beyond the Merlin vacuum mansion in the big box here just see the first stage booster for just a minute or two do a call that the fairings have deployed a brief view of the bluebird satellites basic is using the recovery vessel go Cosmos to recover the fairing halves now a little more than four minutes into flight coming up next will be the first stage entry burn beginning coming up at t plus 6 minutes and 4 seconds fairly brief entry burn that's in just 13 seconds for now two plus 5 minutes 8 seconds the entry burn coming up now less than a minute away getting some good views of the Merlin vacuum engine on the Falcon 99's upper stage which provides about 22,500 pounds of thrust again the first stage booster is going to be landing on Landing Zone one back at keep canaval space force station so no drone ship in use today for this Mission and for those in Central Florida just be aware you may hear a sonic boom as it comes back through the atmosphere there you can see the start of that entry burn again just lasting about 13 seconds so it is come and gone see now the SpaceX feed coming up next and now just about 20 30 seconds will be the first stage Landing burn beginning starting to see some views of lz1 there's the landing burn in real time it's coming from P Carson and a good touchdown of the booster seeing it now on the SpaceX video and for a 13th time we have a good Landing of booster b178 for [Music] call out for sea one air powering down the Merlin vacuum engine on the Falcon 9's upper stage balcon upper stage now heading to that transfer orbit is there's just one uh burn prior to the deployment of the bluebird satellites it will remain in this Coast phase until t+ 53 minutes and 57 seconds when the deployment sequence will begin in again this is a very busy morning for us here at space flight now as we're also beginning our coverage momentarily on the spacewalk of the Polaris Dawn mission and for those who may just be joining us in now on our dedicated live stream for the poers da spacewalk welcome aboard we're glad to have you with us I'm Will Robinson Smith reporter with space flight now you're watching two simultaneous uh SpaceX events happening on orbit right now on the left we are monitoring the progress of the first commercial space walk being done from a SpaceX crew Dragon spacecraft getting an overview of the crew right now and taking a look at the profile of mission pilot Scott kid potit veteran of the US Air Force for with more than 20 years in the service and an avid pilot in his own right and also a colleague of mission Commander Jared isaacman at his company shift for payments Sarah Gillis is a mission specialist with on this Mission and is also a SpaceX engineer one of the two SpaceX employees who were flying on board this mission in addition to Anna Menan Sarah Gillis along with Jared Isaac Min will be exiting the dragon vehicle during the space walk this morning however because the dragon spacecraft doesn't have an airlock the entire vehicle will be brought down to vacuum and so all four of the crew members will be fully Dawning their Eva suits designed by SpaceX finally we have Anam Menon here Mission specialist and medical officer for The Poon Mission also a SpaceX engineer also has the call sign of Walker grew up in Houston Texas and was a biomedical flight controller for NASA before making her way over to SpaceX where she's been on console for multiple crew missions including demo 2 Crews 1 through 4 as well as the ax1 mission for axium space if you're joining us through our dedicated live stream on the poison Space Walk You may be wondering about the box to your right that is the Telemetry data from the uh mission for as space mobile at this time we're going to wrap up our dedicated stream over on the uh as space mobile live stream we're going to continue to tracking that mission of course as that addesses and assuming good ground connection and something uh excessively active is not happening with the uh spacewalk at that time we'll be sure to bring you the deployment of those five satellites but for now we're going to sign off on that so for all of you that were watching are watching over on that we're going to move you over to our player Dawn live coverage in the next moment or two want to very brief thank a few folks for your support though thanks to that blonde space girl with a $5 Super Chat a welcome aboard to Sten deuser apologies if I just completely butchered your name but thanks for joining us with Channel membership at the pad leader level a welcome aboard to Kell T McGee gifting a space flight now membership appreciate that and well reason Super Hawk marking 10 months as a channel member saying awesome coverage is always space like now team and mods thank you and with that we are going to wrap up our dedicated live coverage on the mission for as space mobile again we'll continue to monitor that progress and bring you updates over on the polaron stream so rest assured we are keeping track of that as we move forward