SpaceX to Make History Tonight 10:30E

[depotoo]

SpaceX Will Make History with 60-Satellite Launch Tonight
Should be pretty cool. Hope it all goes well.


SpaceX will make some history tonight (May 23), if all goes according to plan.

A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket carrying the first 60 satellites in SpaceX's Starlink internet constellation is scheduled to lift off at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT on May 24) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Together, the five dozen spacecraft weigh about 18.5 tons (16.8 metric tons) — more than any other payload that SpaceX has ever launched, company founder and CEO Elon Musk said. (The previous high was 10.6 tons, or 9.6 metric tons, set in January 2017 with the launch of 10 Iridium NEXT communications satellites.)

Related: SpaceX's 1st Prototype Starlink Satellites Are Up and Running

SpaceX will also be treading new ground with the deployment of this Starlink batch. Rather than rely on 60 distinct spring-based deployment mechanisms, SpaceX will simply spin the satellites off the Falcon 9's upper stage.

 

[Slyhunter]

Neato I live across the river from the place and don't keep track of their launches.

 

[depotoo]

Neato I live across the river from the place and don't keep track of their launches.

Yep, we live about 140 miles south, and sometimes can see launches. Hope we get to tonight

 

[depotoo]

Slyhunter, Palm Beach county

 

[Slyhunter]

Slyhunter, Palm Beach county

ah, I'm in Port St. John.

 

[depotoo]

Slyhunter, Palm Beach county

ah, I'm in Port St. John.

Wow, you are literally right there! How awesome.

 

[depotoo]

Get a picture, if you watch it, Slyhunter, in case we can’t see it.

 

[TNHarley]

This is awesome.
Amazing what capitalism can do for science!

 

[depotoo]

This is awesome.
Amazing what capitalism can do for science!

Yep, should be pretty spectacular.

 

[percysunshine]

And Sky-net is born...

 

[depotoo]

Live
STARLINK MISSION | SpaceX
10 minutes til launch

 

[depotoo]

We could see it! Wish I’d had the camera ready so I could have gotten a better picture. It doesn’t show on the photo but it was deep orange.

 

[Slyhunter]

t-2 success. They're going to launch 12,000 starlink internet satellites? How many can they stick up there before they start crashing into one another?

 

[Slyhunter]

It was bright here.

View attachment 262153 We could see it! Wish I’d had the camera ready so I could have gotten a better picture. It doesn’t show on the photo but it was deep orange.

It was bright here. And noisy.

 

[depotoo]

It was bright here.

View attachment 262153 We could see it! Wish I’d had the camera ready so I could have gotten a better picture. It doesn’t show on the photo but it was deep orange.

It was bright here. And noisy.

Yeah, I could hear it before I saw it. I was concentrating a little too far east when I suddenly caught it out of the corner of my eye.
I can’t begin to imagine what it was like where you were.

 

[ColonelAngus]

I am visiting my parents in Crystal river and I could see it over here, so cool.