{"id":13188,"date":"2019-05-15T17:01:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T09:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/falcon-9-launch-timeline-for-the-starlink-1-mission\/"},"modified":"2019-05-15T17:01:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T09:01:17","slug":"falcon-9-launch-timeline-for-the-starlink-1-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/falcon-9-launch-timeline-for-the-starlink-1-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcon 9 launch timeline for the Starlink 1 mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated to reflect new launch attempt May 23.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s ascent to orbit 60 satellites for SpaceX\u2019s Starlink broadband network.<\/p>\n

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket will lift off Thursday during a 90-minute opening at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT Friday) from the Complex 40 launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 will head northeast from Cape Canaveral over the Atlantic Ocean to place the 60 Starlink satellites into a circular orbit around 273 miles (440 kilometers) above Earth.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9\u2019s first stage will target a landing on SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u201cOf Course I Still Love You\u201d in the Atlantic Ocean nearly 400 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

The first stage booster launching tonight previous flew on two missions \u2014 the Telstar 18 VANTAGE launch from Florida in September 2018 and SpaceX\u2019s eighth mission for Iridium from California in January.<\/p>\n

Data source: SpaceX<\/p>\n

T-0:00:00: Liftoff<\/b><\/p>\n

\"After
After the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin engines pass an automated health check, hold-down clamps will release the Falcon 9 booster for liftoff from pad 40.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:13: Max Q<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure, a few seconds after surpassing the speed of sound.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:31: MECO<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:34: Stage 1 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:41: Stage 2 Ignition<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for an approximately 6-minute burn to inject the Starlink satellites into a parking orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:03:33: Fairing Jettison<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The 5.2-meter (17.1-foot) diameter payload fairing jettisons once the Falcon 9 rocket ascends through the dense lower atmosphere. The 43-foot-tall fairing is made of two clamshell-like halves composed of carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb core.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:06:43: Stage 1 Entry Burn Complete<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A subset of the first stage\u2019s Merlin 1D engines completes an entry burn to slow down for landing. A final landing burn will occur just before touchdown on SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u201cOf Course I Still Love You\u201d around 385 miles (620 kilometers) northeast of Cape Canaveral.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:08:17: Stage 1 Landing<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage booster touches down on SpaceX\u2019s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:08:46: SECO 1<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin 1D vacuum engine turns off after placing the Starlink satellites in a temporary parking orbit, beginning a 37-minute coast in space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:46:11: Stage 2 Restart<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s second stage engine ignites again for a 3-second burn to circularize its orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:46:14: SECO 2<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin 1D vacuum engine shuts down after reaching a target orbit about 273 miles (440 kilometers) high with an inclination of approximately 53 degrees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+1:02:14: Begin Starlink Deployments<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The 60 flat-panel Starlink satellites, each with a mass of about 500 pounds (227 kilograms) begin deploying from the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s second stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated to reflect new launch attempt May 23. Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s ascent to orbit 60 satellites for SpaceX\u2019s Starlink broadband network. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket will lift off Thursday during a 90-minute opening at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT Friday) from the Complex 40 launch pad at […]<\/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":[252,2284,291,1736,479,25,2206,311],"class_list":["post-13188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-broadband","tag-cape-canaveral-air-force-station","tag-commercial-space","tag-complex-40","tag-falcon-9","tag-launch","tag-launch-timeline","tag-reusability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13188"}],"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=13188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}