Watch Live: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 21 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 well Robinson Smith I'll be providing our commentary for the duration of this coverage we're broadcasting from the space flight now news Bureau here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center our Steph young is running the technical operations of the broadcast our launch photography team has this Mission off given that this is a West Coast venture if you're hopping over from our just recently concluded launch live stream of the starlink 8-10 Mission welcome back if you're just joining us for the first time on this distinct flight of starlink 9-5 we're glad to have you with us as we get things going want to thank the more than 1300 of you who are with us in the live chat already as we begin this broadcast if you haven't already we'd certainly appreciate it if you could hit that like button for us to allow the YouTube algorithm to do its thing and bring a few more folks into this live stream and uh taking a look at the live chat here to Byron Areno yes you have no idea want to thank our wonderful moderators for being back with this again looks like chisty Lee has hopped over I'm not seeing Stephanie if she's migrated this way but if she does make her way over be sure to give her a hello want to thank Lisa and apocalypse cow for gifting five space light night memberships each get us off on a good footing with some generosity here to our new 10 channel members welcome aboard glad to have you with us and a welcome as well to Edward M joining us the pad leader level ah kist letting me know that uh Steph had to take off early understandable as you can see here on the Slate on your screen SpaceX is targeting the launch of this next falcon9 rocket almost within the hour of our last Falcon flight here thereabouts departure time here from bber space force base and space launch complex 4 East for 1:48 a.m. Pacific 448 a.m. eastern 448 UTC for those around the world if you happen to miss it during the last launch or just want another Refresh on the countdown timeline or a falcon Mission we got you covered on that one let's go ahead and step through that let you know the Milestones that we are anticipating covering SpaceX of course has for for this countdown from its control room their headquarters to hawor California you do know from SpaceX that fueling is in fact underway so the go ahead was given for the start of prop load propellent load began uh a little more than 10 minutes ago T 35 minute Mark looting rp1 or rocket grade kerosene on board the Falcon NES first and second stages at the same time liquid oxygen is loaded on board the Falcon 9's first stage team's 30 minute Mark CR and Kum is loaded onto the pressure vessels on the Falcon's first stage uses to pressurize the main propound tanks during flight that same process began on the second stage about 5 minutes or so later second stage loading of rp1 wrapped up it's actually wrapping up right about now as it were tus 20 minutes 50 seconds the strong back chill down process will begin that's the process of thermally conditioning the field lines ahead of second stage liquid oxygen load before that happens or as that's happening we'll see the so-called big vent from the strong back that'll last until about T minus 16 minutes 30 seconds T 16 minutes second stage locks load begins and a te minus 7 minutes when the chill down of the nine Merlin 1D engines gets underway that process involves flowing a small amount of liquid oxygen through the plumbing and turbo pumps helping to protect the engines from the risk of thermal shock and damage during the startup sequence about six minutes out the first stage kerosene tank is full T minus 4 and 1/2 minutes the strong back retract sequence begins starts the clamp arms underneath the pad fairing opening up and then the transporter erector of the strong back here at vandenbberg will recline about 13° away from the falcon9 rocket and stays that position until lift off 3 minutes out the first stage locks tank should be full te minus 2 minutes second stage locks load wraps up which point this Falcon 9 will be fully loaded fully loaded with 1 million pounds of propellant in the final 60 seconds control the countdown is handed over from the ground sequencer the Falcon 's onboard flight computers the propound tanks are brought up to flight pressure SpaceX launch director will give their go for launch at 45 seconds out the engine ignition command is ISU at T minus 3 seconds and fall N9 Merlin engines are healthy and ignite light computer will give the command for the hold down clamps to release the Falcon 9 rocket for a t0o lift off team R 20 minutes 39 seconds in counting at 148 a.m. Pacific 448 a.m. eastern 0448 UTC e minus 19 minutes 13 seconds and counting let's go ahead and talk about where this Falcon is going to fly once it leaves the pad let's talk little trajectory shall we Tak a look at a satellite view of space launch complex for East or slick 4E as it leaves the path the Falcon 9 rocket will fly in a southeasterly trajectory along the coast of California and Mexico there first stage booster will follow that orange Arc that you see touchdown on the SpaceX drone ship called of course I still love you yellow fairings will be jettisoned a little bit down range of the map you see here on your screen as well fairing H will be brought back into Port along with the booster turn around and refurbished prepared for future flights SpaceX saves about six million bucks in each recovery effort of the payload fearings so it certainly behooves them to try and retrieve those make them useable again for future missions is what it looks like when a fairing C is being brought back on board a recovery vessel see some folks in the live chat talking about launch viewing there some folks in Arizona hoping to catch a good glimpse of this falcon9 rocket as it makes its climb uphill if you are able to see this Falcon and flight be sure to tag us on X love to see the launch videos and photos that yall are able to capture taking a look at the live chat first off I want to thank the now more than 2,300 of you who are with us live with this potentially your second launch of the day if you haven't already would certainly appreciate it if you could hit that like button for us to allow some more folks to find their way into this live coverage that would be much appreciated thanks as well to Cynthia Graves for her $5 Super Chat saying thanks thank you Cynthia Lucky 13 pyro with the $5 Super Chat saying staying up to watch on YouTube and in person that's very exciting hopefully the weather is clear where you are sounds like things are pretty socked in in the immediate area of the pad thanks to Robert ryson for a Super Chat as well saying here's thick fog and vanderberg so yeah that's what we are hearing as well and uh thanks to chisty Lee for a$1 $10 Super Chat saying for Wills T and Halls fund thank you for all you do well thank you clisa for the kind words and yeah I think uh when all is done and dusted I think even more so than tea that sleep will be the greatest reward for including this live coverage and thanks to QB X2 for a Super Chat as well thank you QB T minus 14 minutes 51 seconds and counting second stage locks load is well underway e e e e e e e e e we're currently tus 99 minutes 45 seconds in counting this particular booster tail number 1081 in the SpaceX Fleet looking to make it ninth flight today before that happens let's go ahead and wind back the clock talk about the missions that it already has under its proverbial belt launching first last summer almost exactly a year ago at this point that was August 26 2023 when this booster supported the launch of the four member Cru 7 mission to the International Space Station that mission was commanded by NASA astronaut Jasmine mcbell and featured the first commercial crew launch where all four members were representing different countries second launch of this uh booster came just 39 days after on November 10th it was the launch of a cargo Dragon spacecraft also heading up to the ISS their launch came on December 19th 2023 that was the starlink 6- 34 Mission batch of starlink satellites lifting off from pad 40 over at canville space force station that was followed by the launch of NASA's Pace spacecraft standing for Plankton aerosol Cloud ocean ecosystem launching on February 8th 2024 launch number five is a ride shair Mission lifting off from Vandenburg this was the transporter 10 Mission launching on March 4th six flight came on April 7th that was the launch of the starlink 8-1 mission followed by the launch of a joint climate monitoring spacecraft from the European space agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency or jaxa that was the earth Cloud aerosol and radiation Explorer which launched on May 28th finally the most recent launch is on June 29th 2024 when this booster sent up the nrol 186 mission on behalf of the national reconnaissance office this was the the second such launch of what the nro describes as its proliferated architecture a mentioned a goal and a desire to launch at least or about six times this year with that proliferated architecture which are believed to consist of star Shield satellites uh National Defense bent on a starlink satellite although the nro does not Comet specifically on its Partners or its payloads so we're now T minus 6 minutes 21 seconds in counting this point SpaceX is thermally conditioning the nine merland 1D engines in preparation for launch as we come to the final minutes here let's go ahead and talk about the launch timeline the sequence of events that we're expecting once this this Falcon 9 does leave the pad in just a little under 6 minutes from now Vol lift off the rocket will pass through Max Q with the point of greatest aerodynamic pressure on the vehicle that'll be followed by a few events and fairly rapid succession we have first stage manage and cut off at t plus 2 minutes and 25 seconds that'll be followed a few seconds after by a stage separation the ignition of the Merlin vacuum engine on the second state t plus 2 minutes 36 seconds the burn of the upper stage engine the payload fairings will be jet asent just about the 3 minute mark a t plus 6 minutes and 7 Seconds first stage entry burn will begin that burn lasting about 20 seconds in total setting up for the landing burn at 2 plus 7 Minutes 51 seconds boosters should land on the Drone chip just read the instructions about t plus 8 minutes 13 seconds t plus 8 minutes 39 seconds the upper stage engine will cease firing retract has started t plus 53 3 minutes 7 Seconds there'll be a brief 1sec burn of the upper stage engine setting up the Starling satellites to deploy at the 1 hour mark with that we've got our partially obstructed views of the falcon9 rocket although not entirely blanketed with fog as can sometimes be the case we can actually see the falcon9 here strong strong back retract sequences underway you can see the transporter erector holding back from the falcine rocket our te has 3 minutes 40 seconds and counting next Milestone we're listening for come right about the thre minute Mark that is to denote the conclusion of first stage Bo load or liquid oxygen load wrapping up stage one lock load is complete and go here at that call out for stage one lock load wrapping up are waiting for a similar call on the faline's second stage should be coming up in roughly 45 seconds or less e stage two last load is complete and with that call out the falcon9 is now fully loaded with 1 million pounds of propellant coming up next we'll see and hear a call out for the ground gas Closeouts ground gas Closeouts that'll be followed by the paline entering into startup now less than a minute lift off sure the Falcon is in startup and we're just waiting for the SpaceX launch director to give their go for launch let's listen into that LD is go for launch and with that call SpaceX preparing for its second launch in just about an hour as we come to this final 30 seconds 30 seconds go ahead and listen into the final SpaceX count and we'll be back with you for some additional commentary on the other side of liftoff 15 seconds T minus 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ignition and LIF off go starlink go DTC go falc vehicle's pitching down range power in SL tree no no vehicle supersonic so good call outs from SpaceX as we're now a little more than a minute into this Mission as you just heard Falcon KN is now traveling through Max Q at the point of greatest aerodynamic pressure on the vehicle in the next minute we'll hit some of those events I was mentioning in Rapid succession Prestige manageing Cut Off 2 plus 2 minutes 25 seconds followed by stage separation 3 seconds after that and then second stage engine start 2 plus 2 minutes 36 36 seconds now 2 minutes into flight less than 30 seconds to Mo no less than 10 seconds to Mo man engine cut off State separation confirmed and recognition there go the Hypersonic grid fins bearing separation confirmed with those fairings now detached St like satellites are exposed the vacuum of space for the first time in this Mission a little more than three and a half minutes into this Mission here here coming up the next big milestone will be the start of the entry burn at t plus 6 minutes and 7 Seconds that burn lasting exactly 20 minutes night now a little more than four minutes into the mission than two minutes away from the entry burn beginning e e now t+ 5 minutes 44 seconds into flight we are quickly coming up on the start of that entry burn beginning page one entry burn startup stage one I burn shut down coming up next on the start of the landing burn expected at t plus 7 Minutes 51 seconds stage two FTS is safed stage one transonic Falcon in first stage now traveling below the speed of sound and and the flight termination system on the upper stage no longer needed at this stage of flight about 5 Seconds till we see the start of Landing burn stage one Landing burn stage two terminal guidance stage one Landing leg deploy stage one Landing confirm and for a ninth time that booster 1069 is safely down on the Drone ship m shut down nominal orbit insertion and some good call outs from SpaceX there it will remain in that parking orbit but until t plus 53 minutes 7 Seconds there will be a brief 1second burn setting up for the Starling satellites to be deployed at the 1 hour mark and with that it has been a lovely but very long morning so we're going to go ahead and wind things down with a look at our mission stats that they currently stand here this was the ninth flight of falconite booster 1081 the 369th Falcon 9 launch to date the 84th Falcon 9 launch of 2024 the 312th Falcon booster reflight or the launch of a booster that has flown at least once the 87th SpaceX launch of 2024 this was the 121st orbital launch within the last 365 days this was the 88th orbital launch from slick for East for SpaceX in the 150 6 overall orbital launch from this pad looking at recovery stats here this was the 99th booster landing on the Drone ship of course I still love you the 269th SpaceX Dron ship landing and the 343rd successful booster Landing so far fin this some industry stats this is a notable one right here this was launch number 29 from vanderberg which ties the total number of launches is that vber space Force Base experienced in all of 2023 this was the 91st orbital launch from us soil the 100th orbital launch from us rocket company and this was the 159th orbital launch from around the world six orbital launch mishaps here's where our pie chart now stands and with that want to sincerely thank all of you who have been with us for both of our launches this morning uh taking a look at the live chat I want to thank Cohen film for $20 very generous $20 Super Chat just a message thank you thank you Coen philm for your support on this broadcast thanks to kisty Lee for hanging out with us us again with this launch and to Stephanie B who had to take off a little bit early but we certainly appreciate all her work as well helping to keep things kosher in the live chat big thanks to our Channel member Community as always for helping to make space flight now possible thanks to Stephen young for running the technical operations of the broadcast behind the scenes be sure to subscribe to the space flight now channel here on YouTube and hop on over to our website spaceflightnow.com to keep up to dat the launch schedule as we are continuing to track the next available launch opportunity for the players Dawn Mission and we'll be sure to let you know when that does arise over there and Stephen just letting me know this was a record for 1 hour five minutes between SpaceX launches so a nice little feather in their cap to close out this evening morning however you want to term it kick us into Labor Day weekend and perhaps now we can all take a little time off from some labor hope you all have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend for those here in the United States and those fortunate enough to not have to work on Monday for all us here at space flight now I'm Will Robinson Smith be good to yourselves be good to others and folks we will see you next time and until then bye-bye e