SpaceX’s Falcon 9 B1071-5 is ready to launch 52 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California. The Starlink 4-29 mission was targeting launch on Monday, Oct. 3; however, a report from T.S. Kelso on Twitter, who provides prelaunch tracking information from SpaceX, indicates a 24-hour delay to the mission to Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 4:35 PM PDT (23:35 UTC). This will mark SpaceX’s 44th launch of 2022–a launch every 6.27 days. The Falcon 9, which is fueled starting at the “go” for propellant load point 38 minutes before launch, will be launching into a southeast trajectory inclined 53.2 degrees to the Equator. Main engine cutoff (MECO) for this flight is set for T+2:32, followed some seconds later by stage separation, second stage engine start, and fairing separation. The first stage is set to be recovered on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean, 653 km southeast of the launch site. The Falcon 9’s fairings are scheduled to be recovered around 665 kilometers downrange by NRC Quest after using recovery hardware to make a soft splashdown on the ocean surface. B1071-5 has made…
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SpaceX delays launch of 52 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg
