Watch live: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg, California

e e good morning everyone and Welcome to our live coverage of the latest Mission from Vandenberg space Force Base Robinson Smith will be providing our commentary for the duration of this coverage we are broadcasting as we always do from the space fight now news buau here at nasis Kennedy Space Center currently T minus 26 minutes 33 seconds and counting a away from the launch of spacex's Falcon 9 rocket from space launch complex 4 East slick 4E at Vandenburg this is the starlink 11-1 mission as you may have inferred from our title slide here liftoff currently scheduled for the time at the bottom of the screen and fortunately we do have word from SpaceX that fueling is underway which which means we are not slipping farther into this window which for those of us on the east coast is a wonderful thing currently targeting that t0 at 12:24 a.m. Pacific 3:24 a.m. eastern 0724 UTC for our friends around the world our space flight now editor Stephen young running the technical operations of this broadcast this morning our launch photographers of Adam Burnstein Michael Kane of course have the launch off this is a West Coast Venture as of this singular moment in time as we're beginning this broadcast SpaceX is currently continuing to press forward along with NASA north of Grumman for a launch attempt of the ng21 mission from here in Florida from pad 40 over at Cape canaval space force station however as those of you who were here with us for the launch attempt on Saturday the weather Still Remains 10% the able for a launch today the tropical activity has materialized into a named storm it is now tropical storm Debbie anticipated to make landfall as hurricane Debbie once it reaches the Sunshine State so we're continuing to keep an eye on the track of that storm per communication from mission control center Houston at the Johnson Space Center in Texas up to the astronauts of expedition 71 on board the space station they're anticipating making a further determination on the launch opportunity today around 700 a.m. eastern the communication was actually 11 GMT so we will keep you apprised of whether or not they are in fact going to make a run at it today although were I a betting man I would very highly doubt it but we'll see and of course be sure to keep your eyes on our launch calendar on our website Spacey now.com and of course we'll provide updates on our social channels as well that being said we're Team minus 22 minutes 50 seconds and counting to the launch of this mission 23 starlink satellites on board this particular Falcon flight AS astrophysicist and or Astron uh Jonathan McDow expert orbital tracker noted on his social media this Mission with 23 starlinks on board is the most for a vanderberg based launch so the thought is that either the Starling satellites heading up to the 11th shell for the Mega constell a are lighter or there's been a performance increase in the falconite rocket e for as we continue on want to briefly uh thank our wonderful moderators in the live chat appreciate you being up with us at a an opportune hour for some of us so big thanks to Kalisa Lee Stephanie B for hopping in this morning we'll of course keep an eye out as well for any of the other mods should they happen to pop in but if you haven't already say hello to Stephanie and kistia also powered by wonderful Channel member Community here on YouTube so thanks to folks like I'm Lita Patty chinchi M Teresa Josh ganine Brian Daniels Aiden green Tony McCoy Wicked code JJ Jones and many others General membership comes the number of perks including discounts at our online shop shop that's Spacey 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 or before I get to that uh thanks to psychonaut 69 for gifting a space line on membership and to kisty Lee for gifting five very much appreciated from the two of you and to our newest six channel members welcome aboard and we're glad to have you with us that's but not least if you have a comment or question and you like to participate in the show and your comment or question is appropriate to be read on the show you can use the YouTube Super Chat feature we'll be keeping an eye out for that as well as for Relevant comments from our wonderful channel members and a big thanks to apocalypse cow for giting five space line out memberships appreciate that from you as well let's go ahead and and talk about where we are in the timeline of things here some of the Milestones that we've passed in the ones yet to come for SpaceX of course the countdown process began with the go ahead for the start of fing that was issued around tus 30 minutes is when that poll would have concluded nominally setting up for the start of fueling the T-minus 35 minute mark begins with loading of rp1 or rocket grade kerosene both the first and second stages of the falcon9 rocket as well as the G oxygen on the Falcon's first stage T minus 30 minutes is when they begin loading cenic helium on board Falcon 9's first stage healing is important because it's used to pressurize the main propell tanks during flight same happens about 5 minutes later on the second stage at tus 23 minutes the loading of the second stage kerosene tank should conclude T minus 20 minutes and 50 seconds is when the strong back chill down process begins that is the thermal conditioning for the feed lines for they begin second stage liquid oxygen load process starts at T minus 20 minutes 50 seconds but we know that by the so-called big vent that comes up at about tus 20 minutes and 20 seconds that sets up the event that we're coming upon next in less than a minute T minus 16 minutes is when second stage lock so it begins the final feling Milestone that has really yet to begin here in vanderberg 2us 7 minutes is when the chill down of the nine Merlin engines gets underway and Evol flowing a small amount of liquid oxygen through the plumbing and turbo pumps protecting the engines from the risk of thermal shock and damage during the startup sequence 6 minutes out the first stage kerosene tank should be full and then at tus 4 and 1 half minutes the strong back retract sequence begins starts with the clamp arms opening up just beneath the payload fairings then here at Vandenberg the transporter erector of the strong back will recline about 13° away from the falcon9 rocket stays in that position until lift off about 3 minutes out the first stage liquid oxygen tank should be full 2 minutes before launch same is true on the second stage at which point the Falcon 9 is fully loaded with 1 million pounds of propellent final 60 seconds control of the countdown is handed over from the ground sequence are at the Falcon's onboard flight computers the propellant tanks are brought up to flight pressure SpaceX launch director will give their go for launch 45 seconds before liftoff the engine ignition command is issued at T minus 3 seconds and if all nine Merlins ignite and are healthy the fight computer will give the command for the hold down clamps to release Bird 3 t0 liftoff T minus 15 minutes 15 seconds or at 12:24 a.m. Pacific 3:24 a.m. eastern 0724 UTC on the team I 14 minutes 38 seconds in counting want to thank the more than 2500 of you who are joining with us live this morning if you haven't already we'd certainly appreciate it if you could hit that like button for us allow some more folks to find their way into our live coverage from wherever they're watching in the world go ahead and let us know where you're joining in from just taking a look at the live chat I uh empathize with Matt B who's joining us from my hometown of Sacramento California and yeah it's unfortunately not a spot where we actually get to see the launches with our own eyes but every now and again might be able to catch a glimpse if the lighting conditions are right but we shall see the trajectory is certainly not in the most optimal spot for that want to thank Channel member 9 Leo for a $5 Super Chat thank you Lita saying thank you space light now will team and mods for your sacrifice yeah well appreciate that great to be a part of this awesome Channel well thank you Lita for your ongoing support same as well to pasmar H for being a member with us for two months saying uh shout out for school Educators and Staffing the cafeteria custodian secretaries make it possible every day for your children's education and I will second that as the son of an educator and I have a couple of sisters who are both in the education system as well the university level so big ups for all of the teach ERS administrators and as P of saying all the support staff that make our schools function last for now thanks to cam research for also marking two months at a channel membership at the pad leader level saying thanks will for the stream and much appreciated to apocalypse cow for the membership thanks to apocalypse Cal for bringing cam in and thanks cam for sticking with us thanks to Lazarus 749 for $5 Super Chat saying thank you for your work appreciate the note of support 2us 11 minutes 51 seconds in counting let's go ahead and talk about where this Falcon 9 Rocket's going to be heading what's it leaves the pad since we were talking about visibility and take a look at where this Falcon's going to be flying in the most optimal spots to to actually see it once it leaves the pad at slick 4E or space launch complex 4 East at fenberg space Force Base similar to the sterlink headed to the ninth shell this Rocket's going to be lifting off heading in a southeasterly trajectory along the coast of California and Mexico first stage booster once it separates from the upper stage will follow that orange path landing on the Drone ship of course I still love you of course things will continue to be more active on the west coast in the coming years might have missed this news nugget and everything that happened over the last couple of weeks but SpaceX will be moving all of its Dragon operations from Florida to Vandenburg and the West Coast so all of the crew and cargo Dragon spacecraft that used to be splashing down off the coast of Florida following the crew n return those dragons will now splash down off the coast of Southern California reason for that is the drunk uh the trunk of the Dragon while originally thought to burn up entirely after being jettisoned prior to the deorbit burn of the Dragon spacecraft turns out that wasn't quite the case and there were some notable chunks starting with the trunk of the crew One mission that were found not to have damaged any property or caused any injuries or worse but enough of them enough times were making it through and landing on land that they decided it was going to be safer to move Dragon operations to the West Coast so we'll see one of the Dragon recovery vessels unclear if it's going to be Megan or Shannon leave Florida make its way out to the West Coast for Dragon support after the booster separates and lands on the Drone ship of course the payload fairings will be jettison a little bit down range of that as well space X will scoop them up on a recovery vessel after they splash down under the support of parachutes SpaceX saving about 8 million or excuse me $6 million per recovery I was looking at the countdown clock when I said that eight T minus 8 minutes 38 seconds to lift off this is what that recovery operation looks like on board this Falcon flight are 23 starlink satellites unlike some of the more recent launches that we've seen from California there are no direct to sell service capable starlinks on this Mission each of the starlinks clocks in about 1,760 LBS or about 800 kog with their solar panels and Fred they have a wingspan of about 100 feet or 30 m they use argon Hall thrusters for inorbit Maneuvers as opposed to the previously used Krypton Hall thrusters they built in Redmond Washington nearish Seattle they'll be deployed at about 180 mil or 290 km in altitude at a 53° inclination in courtesy of H robotics this is what a starlink V2 mini satellite looks like is captured by one of their satellites from last year curently tus 7 Minutes 14 seconds in counting coming upon the start of the engine chill down sequence e e we're now currently T-minus 5 minutes 42 seconds in counting this point the first stage kerosene tank should be full about a minute away from the beginning of the strong back retract sequence before we get there briefly let's go ahead and talk about the flight history of this particular Falcon 9 first AG booster tail number 1082 in the SpaceX Fleet preparing to make its sixth flight tonight in these overnight hours and with a starlink launch that was starlink 7-9 on January 3rd followed by 7-14 on February 15th this booster has been uh primarily launching starlink missions Falcon 9 are pressing for strong back retract deviation from that was us ssf 62 on April 11th that sent up the weather system follow on microwave satellite the first for that program there was starlink 8-2 on on May 10th and then starlink 9-1 on June 19th which brings us here to starlink 11-1 which you can kind of see the RCT is starting outline of the falcon9 rocket from the previous shop although it is very much a Vandenburg type morning the fog has rolled in and it is quite persistent and while it is n impossible to actually see the falcon9 rocket the strong back is in fact reclining away from the vehicle as we just heard the call outs again here at Vandenberg the transporter erector the strong backck pulls back about 13° away from the falcony rocket prior to liftoff as we come into the final stretch here first off want to thank the more than 5700 of you who are joining with us live if you haven't already certainly appreciate it if you would hit that like button to allow some more folks to find their way in before we hit the point of liftoff here with this Falcon flight also want to thank a few folks for your support this morning thanks to Cheryl Harrison for a $5 Super Chat thank you Cheryl 8 Aon the $2 Super Chat asking if this will be visible from San Diego stage one locks load complete it would be based on the trajectory but it entirely is based on how much uh cloud is hanging around your area and what the local weather conditions are but based off of the flight path it should be thanks to Kathy Barnett for uh gifting a space flight down membership appreciate you Kathy Steve long with a $3 Super Chat thank you Steve gu Kawa with a very generous $20 Super Chat thank you so much G for supporting us at That level very excited looking Emoji Tony McCoy giting five space l now memberships and Michael mcgory gifting one as well appreciate that from the two of you that generos we're coming upon the last fueling Milestone here in just a few seconds think seeing I frog for a $10 Super Chat saying thanks for another launch eat that Falcon and hope it finds w-e step hopping in my ear just to let me know in response to stage two locks load complete a Aon that it should be visible about a minute to a minute and a half after lift off from San Diego and with that call it you just heard the Falcon 9 is now fully loaded with a million pounds of propellant that call up for ground gas Closeouts which be that final venting that is very difficult to make out although you can see in this vantage point if you notice a little bit of movement in the fog that excess movement is not the fog itself that is the ground gas closeout Falcon 9 is in startup with that call we're just waiting for the SpaceX launch director to give their go for launch which should be coming in the next few seconds LD is go for launch and with that we are now just about 30 seconds in real time from the lift off this falcon9 rocket T minus 30 seconds and with that we're going to go ahead and step back ourselves for just a brief moment listening to the final countdown from SpaceX and we'll be back with you on the other side for additional commentary t - 15 tus 10 9 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Miss and lift off go falcon go vehicle is pitching down range m1d chamber pressures are nominal power and Telemetry nominal Falcon 9 is supersonic Max Q and some good call outs from SpaceX so far all at this stage nominal with this flight falcon9 rocket in the starlink 11-1 mission coming up next we are going to be heading a few different milestones in Fairly rapid succession in about a minute we'll see first stage main engine cut off or M that'll be followed 3 seconds later by stage separation stage two engine chill and the second stage engine start scs1 that call you just heard for a second stage engine chill they're thermally conditioning that Merlin vacuum engine on the upper stage for the start of its burn payad fairings will be deployed just before the 3 minute Mark or they're abouts about 10 seconds to Mo Mo stage separation confirmed stage two startup both vehicles are following nominal trajectories fairing separation confirmed SM good call outs from SpaceX as you saw those 23 Starling satellites now exposed to the vacuum of space for the first time on this mission now about 3 and a half minutes into flight next Milestone we're tracking here is the start of the first stage entry burn beginning comes up at about t plus 6 minutes and 5 Seconds that burn lasting about 24 seconds in total for as we come upon the fifth minute of FL so far nominal Mission at this stage as you're seeing the toggling between the two different views presented on the falcon9 upper stage it's done to allow SpaceX Engineers back on the ground to continuously see both sides of the Merlin vacuum engine and ensure that it is continuing on with a good bur both both vehicles continue to follow nominal trajectories good call from SpaceX on the left hand side just now you were seeing the inside of the inner stage looking upward why can't really see anything right now we're looking down in between two of the Hypersonic grid fins on the outside of the Falcon's first stage that you will get much brighter in just a few seconds here as we're now less than 10 seconds away from the start that first stage entry burn stage one entry burn startup this bird designed to rapidly slow down the falcon9 first stage as you can see the speedometer dramtically stage one FTS has safed that call up for FTS being safed the flight termination system uh safety mechanism built into both stages of the rocket now being safe to essentially no longer being needed at this stage in Flight RT plus 7 minutes 16 seconds in counting less than a minute away from the start of Landing burn with the Falcon first stage stage two Sonic stage two FTS has saved good call outs there Falcon 9 first stage now traveling below the speed of sound stage one Landing burn stage two terminal guidance stage one Landing leg deploy stage one Landing confirmed Grace sixth time booster 1082 is safely down on the Drone ship stage two shutdown nominal orbit insertion and good call outs from SpaceX there with the conclusion of the first burn of the Merlin vacuum engine the upper stage now entering into a parking orbit where it will continue to Coast until t+ 53 minutes 53 seconds which point there will be a brief 1 second burn to help circularize the orbit that'll set up the starlink satellites to be deployed at t+ 1 hour and 47 seconds so at this stage all continuing to move nominally with this Mission before we conclude with our mission stats want to thank a few more folks for your support this morning or thanks to Big Bear California live cam for a $5 Super Chat saying keep up the great work glad to support your efforts outstanding coverage that's very kind of you big bear thank you for being with us this morning also thanks to rodent nadam for continuing on with Channel membership at the P leader level for 3 months saying go for launch yes and a good launch so far from the West Coast Steve Wong with a $10 Super Chat thank you Steve saying a little extra to help out the channel which is always very much appreciated the Russian floof cat one of our wonderful channel members with the $2 Super Chat at launch saying Be Me Up Scotty and it sort of looks like a uh transporter beam almost as the Falcon 9 was ascending L High Mike with a $10 Super Chat thank you Mike Darth Lawrence giting five space flight now memberships very much appreciated Darth and a Welcome to our five newest channel members renle wizard with a $5 Super Chat saying just saw the launch from my rooftop here in Riverside good show that's always good to hear glad the weather conditions were such they were able to see that and Michael mcgrory hoping against hope that uh the weather will hold for today's launch of the ng21 mission from the cape considering that we've got a now tropical storm Debbie which again will become hurricane Debbie by the time it makes landfall around the Big Bend in Florida again if I were a betting man I would be pretty pessimistic for a launch today but we will continue to track this and of course let you know what NASA decides taking a look at some satellite imagery right now let's go ahead and close things out with a look at our mission stats as they currently stand with a good liftoff and landing of that Falcon 9 first stage booster again marking the sixth flight of 1082 this was the 359th Falcon 9 launch to date the 74th Falcon 9 flight of 2024 this was the 303rd Falcon booster reflight or the launch of a booster that has flown at least once this was spacex's 77th launch on the year including Falcon heavy launch and two Starship missions this was their 118th orbital launch within the last 365 days the 86th orbital launch from P 4E at vurg and the 154th overall launch from that site moving on to some recovery stats this was the 998th landing of a booster on the Drone ship of course I still love you that marked the 263rd Drone ship landing and the 334th booster Landing for SpaceX finally with some industry stats around the world this was the 26th orbital launch from California the 80th from us soil the 89th from us rocket company and they won 142nd over the launch from around the world so far there have been six orbital mishaps in total their total or partial moving out to the pie chart you can see the breakdown of all that us with now 89 Launches on the year about 63% of the P China holding quarter of the pi with their 35 Russia has eight Japan with four India and Iran with two a piece North Korea with a total launch failure and the European Space Agency with a partial launch failure which is why it has those two asteris next to it of course much of the maen Flight of the Aron 6 rocket was successful but it didn't counter that upper stage issue which is why we're giving it that partial mishap status and with that we're going to go ahead and begin to close things down here thanks real quick to G Crawford soal for a $2 Super Chat Hing the buzzer thanks to our wonderful moderators who've been holding it down in the live chat kisty Lee and Stephanie B appreciate the both of you thanks to our spacei now editor Stephen young for running the technical operations of the broadcast mostly thanks to you for being with us at what is for a number of folks especially here in the US very odd hour to be up but appreciate you joining us for another rocket launch again keep your eyes on our social channels for updates on the ng21 mission and we'll also update our launch schedule accordingly on spacelight map.com Pro us here at space flight now and Will Robinson Smith be good to yourselves be good to others for those in the path of tropical storm soon to be hurricane Debbie please stay safe he local weather warnings and advisories and until next time folks we will see you later bye-bye