On Monday, December 3 at 18:31:47 UTC (1:31pm EST) or about 10 hours after the time this story goes live. With this launch, SpaceX would mark 3 milestones:
First, it will be the first time that one of their boosters will have flown 3 times. The first launch of this booster was on May 11 (from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida) and the second was on August 7 (from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station). This launch will be from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California. (Attentive readers will notice that this booster will have been launched from three different launch pads. Another first.)
Second, it will be the most satellites deployed in a single launch by a U.S. company: 64 (15 microsats and 49 cubesats). Note the qualification, though; India's ISRO launched 88 cubesats using their PSLV into a 500 km altitude SSO on Feb 15, 2017.
Third, this would be SpaceX's 19th launch of the year — its most ever.
This flight has been rescheduled from Dec 1 (for weather) and Dec 2 (to check out the second stage). The launch will be live-streamed on YouTube with coverage expected to begin approximately 15 minutes before launch.
Next up is an ISS resupply mission on December 4, scheduled at 18:38 UTC (1:38pm EST). This would be SpaceX's 20th flight of the year and is scheduled 24 hours and 7 minutes after the Dec 3 launch. This launch is from pad SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
But wait, there's more! On Dec 18th, SpaceX plans a GPS satellite launch on December 18 @ 14:24 UTC (9:24am EST) from the same pad (SLC-40) as was used on Dec 4 That would mark a two-week turnaround time for that launch pad.
And, to wrap up the year, SpaceX plans an Iridium Next launch on Dec 30 @ 16:38 UTC (11:38am EDT) from pad SLC-4E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Should all these flights go off as planned, this would make for a very Happy New Year for SpaceX as it would mark 22 launches in a single year, just under 2 flights per month!
Sources: Ars Technica and SpaceflightNow.com.
(Score: 3, Informative) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday December 03 2018, @08:41AM (3 children)
Sounds like they're achieving what NASA promised fifty years ago with he shuttle.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by choose another one on Monday December 03 2018, @12:25PM (2 children)
In launch rate, maybe. In people launch rate - not so much. I think they'll get there though, hopefully without matching NASA's people-blown-up rate.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Monday December 03 2018, @12:46PM
Payload mass to orbit is what is important. We need big and cheap launches. Carrying humans is just a matter of ticking the checkboxes after that point.
Once BFR/Starship is ready, we can talk about giant telescopes and space stations at 1/10th the cost. That vehicle could carry humans even before it carries NASA astronauts. BFR/Starship in its current iteration also looks and acts a lot more like a Space Shuttle than Crew Dragon 2 does.
Falcon 9 + Crew Dragon 2 gets SpaceX a nice pile of NASA cash before the ISS becomes a thing of the past by 2025 or 2028. After that, SpaceX carrying astronauts for NASA is back up for negotiation, with the likely destination being the Moon or LOP-G in lunar orbit. Or Mars if we believe optimistic timelines.
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(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday December 03 2018, @03:10PM
Also without matching the SLS cost.
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.