Tag: SLC-4E
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Launch Roundup: Polaris Dawn, ISS crewed launch headline busy week
This week’s manifest features four Falcon 9 launches, including the highly anticipated Polaris Dawn crewed mission, a mission carrying AST SpaceMobile’s first five cellphone-compatible broadband satellites, and the delayed launch of two more satellites for Europe’s mid-Earth orbit Galileo constellation. Additionally, Roscosmos has launched the Soyuz MS-26 crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS).…
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Polaris Dawn on hold; SpaceX booster fails on landing
Another busy week of spaceflight activities contained a landing failure of a Falcon 9 booster for the first time in over three years. Looking forward, Falcon 9 could launch up to three times this week, including three Starlink flights. Polaris Dawn’s launch date has been delayed due to an unacceptable weather forecast at the time…
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SpaceX launches Transporter-11 rideshare with 116 payloads
On Friday, Aug. 15, 2024, SpaceX launched the Transporter-11 rideshare mission from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB). Liftoff occurred at 11:56 AM PT (18:56 UTC), 36 minutes into a 53-minute launch window. At the end of the mission SpaceX declared that all payloads were successfully deployed. Payloads were deployed…
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Launch Roundup: Progress MS-28, Indian SSLV, Chinese CZ-4B, and Falcon 9 flights scheduled
The second full week of August is another busy one, with five flights scheduled including the final certification flight of a new launch vehicle from India. The Falcon 9 and Soyuz rockets were also scheduled to fly this week with one mission to the International Space Station and a pair of non-Starlink flights from both…
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Launch Roundup: Starlink constellation continues to expand while China begins building G60 constellation
Following a busy last two weeks, the pace of the worldwide launch schedule slowed down this week. The first launch of the week saw China launch the initial batch of its G60 internet satellite constellation. If the plans for this expansive constellation are fulfilled, we can expect to see many more of these launches shortly.…
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Launch Roundup: Falcon Heavy returns with GOES-U, Firefly Alpha launch attempt
Following a week in which Tropical Storm Alberto brought high seas, wind, and rain-related delays to the launch schedule in Florida, SpaceX managed to get back on track this week with launches from all three of the active Falcon launch pads, including a Falcon Heavy. Toward the end of the week, the Japanese Aerospace and…
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Launch Roundup: Electron launches for the 50th time; Falcon 9 returns to normal operations
Concluding a rare week that was void of any launches and riddled with scrubs, the spaceflight industry looks to return to the planned course of action with four launches from all over the world. This week, the 50th launch of Electron has taken flight, and SpaceX and CASC continue to dominate the launch calendar. SpaceX…
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Launch Roundup: Falcon 9’s busy launch cadence struggles
Following an extremely eventful week in Spaceflight, this week was expected to be a return to “business as usual”, with two SpaceX Starlink missions, one each from Vandenberg and Florida, and a Falcon 9 launching a customer satellite making up the launch manifest for the week. Unfortunately, the weather led to delays and cancellations, and…
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SpaceX has launched the EarthCARE climate research satellite for ESA and JAXA
The joint European-Japanese EarthCARE satellite has begun its mission to improve our understanding of Earth’s climate Tuesday, with a launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California happened at 3:20 PM Pacific Time (22:20 UTC). The Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer…
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Launch Roundup: North Korean launch failure, Starliner CFT, EarthCARE
As May transitions into June, a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to study the Earth’s clouds and aerosols as well as a Russian cargo ship to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) were both on this week’s docket of launches. Two Starlink and three Chinese satellite launch missions were also scheduled, as well as the…