SpaceX F9 - Iridium NEXT/OneWeb - SLC-4E

Launch Date: May 20
Launch Window: 6:20am PDT (9:20am EDT, 13:20 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
Core Booster Recovery: RTLS - LZ-4
Booster: B1063.11
Fairings: Reused - 3rd and 6th
Mass: 21 satellites: 5 spare Iridium, 15 OneWeb 1.0, 1 OneWeb 2.0 (8 tonnes)
Orbit: Polar LEO
Yearly Launch Number: 33

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 15 spare satellites for OneWeb’s first-generation global internet network and one prototype for OneWeb’s Gen2 second-generation network. Five spare satellites for Iridium’s voice and data relay fleet will also launch on this mission. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will return to Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg.

The second stage will use the short nozzle.

"SpaceX Falcon 9 1.1 Launch Sequence at Vandenberg AFB" by jurvetson is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail.

 

[Grendal]

The booster and proper time have been added.

Webcast:

 

[ecarfan]

Scrubbed for today.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1659551844576935939

 

[Grendal]

No news on what caused the scrub. So maybe tomorrow based on how big the issue was.

 

[Grendal]

New webcast:

 

[Grendal]

Complete success.

 

[Electroman]

The 2nd stage nozzle looked a bit different on this one.. not sure if it is a different angle of the camera or what..

 

[Grendal]

The 2nd stage nozzle looked a bit different on this one.. not sure if it is a different angle of the camera or what..

The second stage nozzle is a short one that was last used on the Transporter 7 mission. It is used to save money and when less "energetic" missions are needed. So this was not a mission that was pushing the limits of the rocket, so a smaller, less efficient, nozzle can be used.

 

[ecarfan]

Yes, that RVac nozzle still looks strange to me even though we saw it once before as @Grendal points out.