{"id":11864,"date":"2021-02-14T22:57:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T14:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/photos-falcon-9-test-fired-before-starlink-launch\/"},"modified":"2021-02-14T22:57:29","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T14:57:29","slug":"photos-falcon-9-test-fired-before-starlink-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/photos-falcon-9-test-fired-before-starlink-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Falcon 9 test-fired before Starlink launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX test-fired nine Merlin engines Saturday before the company\u2019s next launch from Cape Canaveral, clearing a key readiness test before liftoff as soon as Sunday night with 60 more Starlink internet satellites.<\/p>\n<p>The nine Merlin engines fired at 12:50 p.m. EST (1750 GMT) Saturday on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ramping up to 1.7 million pounds of thrust for several seconds as hold-down clamps firmly held the 1.2-million-pound rocket on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX confirmed a successful static fire test in a tweet later Saturday afternoon. The Falcon 9 is scheduled for launch at 11:21 p.m. EST Sunday (0421 GMT Monday), and will head northeast from Florida\u2019s Space Coast, aiming for an orbit between 157 miles and 177 miles (254-by-286 kilometers) in altitude, with an inclination of 53 degrees to the equator.<\/p>\n<p>The Starlink satellites will deploy from the rocket about 64 minutes after liftoff, unfurl their solar panels, and use ion thrusters to climb into a 341-mile-high (550-kilometer) orbit to begin providing internet service to customers.<\/p>\n<p>With the launch Sunday night, the SpaceX will have launched 1,145 Starlink satellites to date.<\/p>\n<p>These photos show the Falcon 9\u2019s static fire test Saturday, just after thunderstorms and heavy rain moved through the spaceport.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_50129\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50129\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50129\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1163-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1163-copy.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1163-copy-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1163-copy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1163-copy-678x452.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50129\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_50130\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50130\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50130\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1165-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1165-copy.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1165-copy-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1165-copy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1165-copy-678x452.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50130\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_50131\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50131\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50131\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1179-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"878\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1179-copy.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1179-copy-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1179-copy-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1179-copy-678x425.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50131\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_50132\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50132\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50132\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1182-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"926\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1182-copy.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1182-copy-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1182-copy-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1182-copy-678x448.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50132\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_50133\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50133\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50133\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1189-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1189-copy.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1189-copy-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1189-copy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1189-copy-678x452.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50133\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_50134\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50134\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50134\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1197-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1197-copy.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1197-copy-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1197-copy-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG_1197-copy-678x452.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50134\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX test-fired nine Merlin engines Saturday before the company\u2019s next launch from Cape Canaveral, clearing a key readiness test before liftoff as soon as Sunday night with 60 more Starlink internet satellites. The nine Merlin engines fired at 12:50 p.m. EST (1750 GMT) Saturday on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ramping up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1858,252,771,291,1736,479,25,311],"class_list":["post-11864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-b1059","tag-broadband","tag-cape-canaveral-space-force-station","tag-commercial-space","tag-complex-40","tag-falcon-9","tag-launch","tag-reusability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11864\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}