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

Watch the highlights from SpaceX’s Sentinel-6 satellite launch

Trevor Mogg
By

SpaceX nailed another rocket launch and landing on Saturday, November 21, this time sending the Sentinel-6 ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit.

SpaceX mission launches are always a sight to behold, with space fans truly spoiled by amazing footage showing the key stages in real time and in astonishing detail, including the rocket blasting off from the launchpad, the landing of the first-stage booster back on terra firma, and the actual deployment of the satellite in space. Sometimes we also get to see ships out in the ocean catching the two halves of the rocket fairing in giant nets.

Recommended Videos

Saturday’s mission went exactly according to plan, with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket departing Space Launch Complex 4E at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:17 a.m. PT.

Related

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/wnkvwe09Lb

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 21, 2020

NASA posted this footage of the booster separation followed soon after by the fairing separation that revealed the satellite shortly before its deployment.

Booster separation, second-engine start, and fairing separation as the U.S.-European Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich ocean-observing satellite is on its way to orbit.#SeeingTheSeas pic.twitter.com/EE1TIxIvp6

— NASA (@NASA) November 21, 2020

A little while later, the first-stage booster arrived back on Earth, with this footage capturing the final stages of the journey back, including the touchdown.

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on Landing Zone 4 pic.twitter.com/eDrI5HSXaJ

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 21, 2020

Here are a couple more clips showing the launch and landing.

La même, faite par SpaceX. pic.twitter.com/q9XrCpCSsD

— CapCom (@Capcominfo) November 22, 2020

Cameras on board the SpaceX spacecraft also captured the deployment of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, named in honor of the former chief of NASA’s Earth Science Division, who passed away in August.

Deployment of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich confirmed pic.twitter.com/1ZsiSOyeaj

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 21, 2020

The mission was a joint effort between the European Space Agency and NASA. The satellite is designed to collect data such as sea levels, and atmospheric temperature and humidity, and offers greater accuracy than ever before. An additional satellite designed to complement the work of the Sentinel-6, called Sentinel-6b, will head to orbit in five years’ time.

This year has been a particularly busy one for rocket launches, with a growing number of companies sending their machinery skyward, some of it toward Mars. Check out this compilation, complete with launch footage, of the most notable space missions that have taken place in recent months.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
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)…
SpaceX shares awesome rocket imagery from Starship flight
A view of Earth captured from SpaceX's Starship spacecraft.

SpaceX’s third Starship test flight last Thursday was its best yet, far exceeding the first two missions, which took place last year and ended in huge fireballs just a few minutes in.

This time, the Starship -- comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft -- kept on flying, with both parts reaching their destination points before breaking up on descent.

Read more
Watch SpaceX’s Starship burn brightly as it hurtles toward Earth
SpaceX's Starship reentering Earth's atmosphere.

SpaceX surprised a lot of people on Thursday morning when its mighty Starship rocket managed not to blow up seconds after liftoff.

The Starship -- comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft -- enjoyed its most successful test flight yet following two short-lived missions in April and November last year.

Read more
SpaceX’s Starship reaches orbit on third test flight
spacex starship third test flight screenshot 2024 03 14 143605

SpaceX's mighty Starship rocket has made it into space on its third test flight. The rocket, launched at 9:25 a.m. ET today, March 14, took to the skies over the Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas, and made it to orbit but was lost before the planned splashdown in the India Ocean.

The vehicle consists of the lower section, the Super Heavy booster, and the upper section, the Starship or ship. The two were stacked together ahead of today's flight and achieved separation a few minutes after launch. This tricky maneuver involves cutting off most of the booster's 33 Raptor engines and disengaging clamps connecting the booster to the ship. The ship then fires its own engines to head onward into orbit.

Read more