SpaceX completed a triple-header record in the early hours of Sunday, launching a Globalstar communications satellite from Cape Canaveral after launching a German radar satellite from California into orbit on Saturday and launching 53 satellites on Friday. Starlink Internet from the Kennedy Space Center.
The launch of Globalstar limited the fastest three-flight cadence for an orbiting class rocket in the history of modern space, as the company scored its 158th, 159th and 160th Falcon 9 flights in just 36 hours. 18 minutes. More than 50 releases are expected by the end of the year.
SpaceX’s triple launch header began Friday when the company launched 53 Starlink Internet satellites into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center. William Harwood / CBS News
The SpaceX trifecta began Friday at 12:09 pm EDT when a Falcon 9 using a first stage making its 13th flight moved away from Kennedy Space Center pad 39A with another batch of Starlink satellites, increasing the total released so far at 2,706.
Twenty-two hours later, at 10:17 a.m. Saturday morning, another Falcon 9 propelled Germany’s SARah 1 radar reconnaissance satellite into polar orbit from the base of the force. Vandenberg spacecraft in California.
The second flight of the series arrived on Saturday morning from the base of the Vandenberg space force, covered in fog, when SpaceX launched a German radar reconnaissance satellite. SpaceX
Sunday’s flight began at 12:27 p.m. east over the Atlantic Ocean.
Two and a half minutes later, the first stage crashed and headed for landing on an offshore dronship, while the second stage continued its ascent into space. It took three second stage engine ignitions in just under two hours to reach the planned orbit.
Using a Globalstar communications satellite, a Falcon 9 left the Cape Canaveral space force station in the early hours of Sunday, marking SpaceX’s third successful launch in 36 hours. SpaceX
Finally, at around 2:20 am, the Globalstar FM15 satellite was launched to fly on its own, resulting in the third SpaceX flight in less than two days to a successful conclusion.
Globalstar operates a constellation of satellites that provide voice and data services to users around the world. The FM15 satellite was built as a spare over 10 years ago and is now supposed to be needed to increase network capacity for users of Globalstar satellite phones and data transmission.
More by William Harwood
Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as head of the United States International Chief of Staff’s headquarters and now as a consultant for CBS News. It covered 129 space shuttle missions, all interplanetary flights from Neptune’s overflight of Voyager 2, and dozens of commercial and military launches. Based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood is a devoted amateur astronomer and co-author of “Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia.”