Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Watch highlights of SpaceX’s spectacular Starlink night launch

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

SpaceX has just launched another batch of Starlink internet satellites to space.

A Falcon 9 rocket departed Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:02 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.

Recommended Videos

Everything went according to plan, with the first-stage booster returning safely and the second stage deploying all 49 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit.

As usual, SpaceX livestreamed the launch of the mission, with around 50,000 people hitting the company’s YouTube channel to watch the action.

Below we see the mission getting underway …

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/aZ2vu9BOba

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 19, 2022

Multiple cameras captured the early stages of the rocket’s ascent …

Starlink Mission

We also see the rocket’s fairing falling away three minutes after launch, exposing the payload of satellites ahead of their deployment. Keep watching for some incredible views of the rocket’s continuing ascent.

Starlink Mission

And here we get to see the first-stage booster landing on the droneship in the Atlantic Ocean nine minutes after launch, marking the 103rd successful recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage and highlighting again the extraordinary success of SpaceX’s reusable rocket system …

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship pic.twitter.com/HxtyPBsvYp

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 19, 2022

Tuesday’s launch was originally scheduled for Monday but poor weather conditions prompted SpaceX to delay it by 24 hours.

This was SpaceX’s 36th dedicated Starlink launch since its first one in 2019. It means the company now has around 2,000 Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit, providing internet services to a growing number of customers.

This was SpaceX’s third orbital launch of 2022 in what’s lining up to be its busiest year to date, with around 40 missions already planned for the next 12 months, beating 2021’s tally of 31 launches.

Tuesday’s launch comes just days after a team of researchers published a report assessing the impact of SpaceX satellites on the work of astronomers. Sunlight reflecting off the satellites has caused concern among those exploring deep space from the ground, with the report noting an increasing number of light streaks on images captured by the team’s telescope over the last two years. SpaceX has added visors to its satellites in a bid to eliminate the glare, though the report suggests the attachment only has a limited effect.

Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Topics
SpaceX Starship reaches orbit for the first time but its historic flight ends early
Starship reaches orbit for the first time and deploys 26 Starlink satellites before an early splashdown.
spacex-starship

After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180

Read more
Starship is finally going orbital, and SpaceX has picked September 22
Flight 14 is aiming for orbit, Starlink V3 deployment and a very long day in space.
Starship rocket.

SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.

Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver

Read more
Want a city on the Moon? Scientists say there’s not enough water
A billion tons still comes up short
Artist impression of activities in a Moon Base.

For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.

A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.

Read more