SpaceX - Falcon 9 - Galileo FOC FM25 & FM27 - LC-39A - Kennedy Space Center - April 28, 2024
SpaceX is targeting Saturday, April 27 at 8:34 p.m. EDT (00:34 UTC, 02:34 CEST, April 28) for a Falcon 9 launch of the European Commission’s Galileo L12 mission to medium Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If needed, a backup opportunity exists on Sunday, April 28 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Due to the additional performance required to deliver the payload to medium Earth orbit, this mission marks the 20th and final launch for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, Intuitive Machines IM-1, and 13 Starlink missions.
The satellites of the Galileo-Constellation were mostly launched by Arianespace with a Soyuz ST rocket with a Fregat upper stage from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. However, because of the political situation, the launch of a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana was stopped in 2022. Initially, the satellites should have been launched with the new ESA rocket Ariane-6, but because of the long delays of the successor to the Ariane-5 rocket, it was scrapped.
Europe contracted SpaceX to launch the two pairs of Galileo satellites with a Falcon 9 rocket for approximately €180 million.
Due to the pair of satellites' higher target altitude and higher inclination of the targeted orbit, the Falcon 9 Booster stage needs all the fuel during the launch. The booster must have mostly 9% of the propellant of the first stage for the landing process on an autonomous drone ship or at a landing zone near the launchpads (Cape Canaveral Space Force Station or Vandenberg Space Force Base). For this launch, the booster will be discarded.
Good job !
Gratulation ✨
Plus de 300 lancements et toujours les mêmes commentaires. Laissez nous regarder tranquillement les lancements.la fusée est parti 56 secondes sans commentaires, que du bonheur.
Bumping since no launch today...
Happy Mother's Day!
Thanks for reproducadhion information tenks so match good lucky
For godsakes, why do the narrators always seem to think they have to tell us what it is that we have just heard mission control say.
People do have problems nowadays ...