SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching 2 satellites on record-tying 20th flight today (Image Credit: Space.com)
SpaceX is about to tie its rocket-reuse record for the second time in less than a week.
A Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch two Earth-observation satellites for the company Maxar today (May 2) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, during a 14-minute window that opens at 2:36 p.m. EDT (1836 GMT; 11:36 a.m. local California time).
It will be the 20th mission for this rocket’s first stage, tying a record that one Falcon 9 set earlier this month and another one equaled on Saturday night (April 27).
SpaceX will livestream the launch via its account on X, beginning about 15 minutes before the window opens.
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If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth safely yet again, making a vertical touchdown back at Vandenberg about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, will carry two of Maxar’s WorldView Legion satellites to orbit. The first spacecraft will be deployed 13 minutes after launch, and the second will follow suit 3.5 minutes after that.
The WorldView Legion satellites are built by Maxar Space Systems and will be operated by Maxar Intelligence, both of which are divisions of Maxar Technologies. The spacecraft going up today are the first two of a planned six-satellite network.
“When all six WorldView Legion satellites are launched, it will triple Maxar Intelligence’s capacity to collect 30-centimeter-class [12 inches] and multispectral imagery,” Maxar representatives wrote in a description of the network.
“The full Maxar constellation of 10 electro-optical satellites will image the most rapidly changing areas on Earth as frequently as every 20 to 30 minutes, from sunup to sundown,” they added.
Today’s mission, which SpaceX calls Maxar 1, is part of a busy day for Elon Musk‘s company. For example, it also plans to launch 23 of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida tonight.
And early this morning, the four astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-8 astronaut mission are scheduled to move their Dragon capsule from one International Space Station docking port to another. The maneuver will make room for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which will launch to the orbiting lab on May 6.
